For Abu Suleyman:

1) True on training, doctrine and inclination. However, units will do what they're supposed to do. Might there be a maverick or rabble rouser who goes overboard? Always possible. In Desert Storm, of all the Divisions involved only the 24th got a little carried away and that got stopped pretty quickly. Far from even probable on the slippery slope you envision, I think.

2) Wrong. After arriving in Baghdad, it took 18 months for the Army to realize they were doing more harm than good; another 18 months to turn the big bureaucracy around and it's taken 18 months to get the changes that started in mid-2005 thoroughly embedded. Those habits have been changed for some time and many -- including our juvenile, ignorant and incompetent media -- have missed that. The number of folks on their fifth deployment is microscopic; those that have that many reenlisted or stayed because they like what they're doing. There's a reason the Army and Marines reenlistment rates are higher than ever -- particularly in the combat arms units. These kids are sharp, they know what they're doing, they're quick studies, they like what they're doing and they aren't habit bound.

3) WE don't do numbers, academia and the media do. You are correct that they are a current American fad but they are a habit, not a requirement. While there will be some who want to react the way you suggest, I suspect they will be few in number and hopefully will be deterred by someone above or below them with some sense. As an aside, anyone who plumps for 'metrics' in war as proof of anything is severely deluded.

IOW, I think your suppositions are mostly wrong.

For Tequila:

Not incapable, just not yet ordered by their civilian masters to do so because there are other considerations. Little things. Like the external security of Iraq, insuring that China and India get all the oil they need, encouraging those in the neighborhood to continue ridding themselves of anti-social types and more...