McCaffrey's estimate was not all that unrealistic at the time he made it, which was before the collapse of the Republican Guard. If the RG pulled back into Baghdad and fought block to block, with civilians in the mix, then we would looking at a very ugly situation. Military operations in urban terrain in past major conflicts have produced casuality rates as high as 30%. Insert thousands of troops into a city of several million, where the populace could be hostile, and it is not that much of a stretch to project casaulties in the 1,000s. It is absolutely great that we have done so well and if a large segment of the population of Baghdad lacks the will or motivation to fight to the end then we will prevail with casaulty numbers that are far below 2,000 to 3,000. That remains to be seen, although things are looking good for us right now.