" Q:"What's your opinion of the media's role in this war?"

A: The insurgency in Iraq is not as large as some people would believe it to be.
     As masters of manipulation, the media present stories to be much,
    much bigger than they really are. So there's a huge piece of news of a singular event,
   yet there are a thousand progress stories that aren't interesting enough [to be covered].
   Progress doesn't resonate in the media as much as blood and guts. It's kind of frustrating.  "

 

Thanks to the CMS for summing everything up in such a small neat nutshell for all to understand. The insurgents, thugs or barbarians as you refer to them are small in numbers. My best guess would be less than 5,000. Not only are they small in numbers they have 2 things going for them, 1.) they are remarkably adapt at keeping their operation going on the cheap while we expend billions 2.) to keep a force of 5,000 going means they need a lot less new recruits than the 80,000 a year we need to keep the Army where it is. Add to it they have over 1,000 years of experience in violence to draw from and it's their land to begin with that they know much better than us.