The retired American general who headed the occupation "government" in Iraq was interviewed by the BBC and has some truly interesting things to say. It's something everyone who is interested in Iraq should read.

Yahoo! News - Garner Says U.S. Made Mistakes in Iraq

Of most interest to me was this part at the end:

Garner rejected a suggestion that the poor communications helped strengthen opposition to the coalition presence in Iraq. Instead, he blamed hardcore supporters of Saddam's Baath party and international terrorists.

"The international war on terrorism began to be fought in Iraq," he said, with anti-American fighters coming in from other countries.

"That's not all bad," Garner said. "Bring 'em all in there, we'll kill 'em there."

I would like to hear more about that. From the outset of this whole Iraq matter I took the President at his word that this would be a small battle in the war against Radical Islam. Given that, it always made sense to me that the United States was not only anticipating but downright hoping that Iraq would be a sort of "honey pot", attracting Radical Islamic savages from across the world to one place where our guys could shoot them. This idea is in keeping with President Bush's "Bring 'Em On" statement, which has been widely ridiculed in Leftist circles as cowboy bravado. Maybe it was a challenge.

The honey pot strategy might also might explain why the White House has been so quiet in not countering Democrat and other Leftist statements that Iraq is a quagmiric mess. Personally, I think the White House is simply keeping its return fire in check until about next August when it can "see the whites of their eyes", but is it also possible that our Armed Forces consider a worldwide perception that we are losing in Iraq to be a good thing, as it might attract more Islamic devils into range of our weaponry.

Farfetched, to be sure. But maybe.