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Abstract
In Iraq, the Battle of Baghdad is running into its fourth inconclusive year. On Apr 7, 2003, armored columns from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division blasted their way into downtown Baghdad. The Army's 3rd Infantry Division is returning for a third try in the past four years at taking Baghdad. The division spent 2005 fighting there. Now, its soldiers are part of the surge of 21,500 American troops being dispatched to join some 15,000 already in the embattled city. Pres George W. Bush has committed the American military to a decisive campaign on terrain that could not be less favorable to a conventional army fighting shadowy insurgents and armed militias. Baghdad is but a battleground, an area rich with insurgent targets, be they American patrols or innocent Iraqi civilians, an area to demonstrate with every bombing and assassination the weakness of Iraq's government and its inability to deliver basics. As American troops pour into Baghdad, the insurgents will withdraw to their sanctuaries and spread violence and chaos elsewhere.