MC,

Opal is just a type of car used by AIF allot because its so common here. As for the M4, its good for AT&T long distance calls as well with the right optics, and increasingly US troops are showing up with better optics. Having been a Marine before I became an Army Infanty Officer, I've spent lots of time at the range. You can get out quite a ways with an M4, put an ACOG or some other scope on it and so much the better - I like my ACOG with tritium because I have a thing against batteries and it has a quick reflex back up Iron on the top. 300m with irons is definetly in the doable, with a 4x32 4-500 is pretty easy, some of these units are spending the dough on their SDMs (the right call) and investing in top of the line ACOGs - better then 4x32s, but pricey. Like I said, the only thing I'd put on a Christmas list would be a slightly more serious caliber, but that's personal pref. In reality there are a number of reasons we'll probably keep 5.56 such as the cost of retooling, training, etc,. in the end the 5.56 will do the job just fine.

AIF like ambushes and urban terrain often facillitates that. an Ambush does not require the type of coordination an attack does, and allows for use of IEDs, etc to initiate with. It also keeps AIF from being PID'd until the last possible moment. Its more of a question of them acknowledging their capabilities and limitations then trying to downplay ours I think, although if you want to lump the fact that they know what routes we have to clear (common knowledge by any Iraqi at this point) - you can chalk that up to vulnerabilites.