>I guess some western sympathisers with the Iraqi resistance are hoping for a
>mounting backlash in the US. But I'm not encouraged by the historical
>precedents on that score, e.g. in spite of the 50,000 US dead, Vietnam
>appears to have had few long-term political effects.
Oh, it did. It inhibited the U.S. from direct military interventions (except cakewalks like Grenada), encouraged the use of proxies (e.g., the contras), ended the draft. Even the Bush admin understands the political math that there are severe limits on the number of casualties the U.S. forces could sustain. Even the present level of casualties is causing him political trouble. They probably thought the invasion of Iraq would turn out to be more like Grenada than it has.
Doug