[JennysCool]

I was referring to the urban house-to-house fighting

Goin' out on a little limb here, but I'm thinking this all ends before it gets to that point. We've already had lots of fleeting stories about surreptitious surrnder negotiations. The Iraqis -- the smart ones -- have to realize the goodies they get by surrender are astonishingly huge compared to the -- err, nothing -- they get out of interminable, wearying battle.

[WOSG]

I am too. Saddam is making a military strategic error, but doing it for political reasons.

We *expected* to liberate southern Iraq without resistence. but he put forces there. If we did liberate those cities without difficulty, it would be a propaganda blow to saddam. So saddam seeded opposition throughout the south.

Militarily, it makes life much easier for us. The more dispersed he is, the more we can defeat his forces one by one. In other words, sending his forces out of baghdad makes it easier for us to defeat him in baghdad.

Either way we win.