Reprisal

Steven Den Beste provides an interesting analysis of the most recent barbarity in Fallujah. He thinks the strategy behind it was to invite a counterproductive reprisal, rather than to weaken our morale. His idea is plausible, but at this point I can only take the position that there isn't enough data, and that discerning the motives of the twisted is often a dubious effort. Many other bloggers, such as Donald Sensing, demand as tough a reprisal as possible, whatever the motives of the enemy. I'm inclined to agree with this. If there's one place where people can't hate the Americans more, it's Fallujah.