The Swamp Fox

When I was a kid, I simply could not get enough of the Landmark Books. Biographies of athletes, inventors, politicians and other legendary figures. Histories that recounted the battles of King Arthur, Napoleon and D-Day. And among them, probably my favorite was the heroic depiction of Francis Marion--known better (at least to some) as the Swamp Fox.
Marion was despised by the British during the Revolutionary War because he and his small band of men would win battles, at times, without ever being seen. They would pick off the redcoats from behind the thickets of swampland...intercept traveling parties under the cover of darkness...and build their reputation by whatever means necessary as the greatest scouts of that, and perhaps any other, American war.
Oh, how the British hated him! Winning or losing, they claimed, was incidental--at least the man should have the decency to obey the rules of modern warfare!
Of course, it's been impossible not to think of the Swamp Fox recently. Last week a U.S. general chastised the Iraqi terrorists for 'being afraid to face us on the battlefield'. We have heard the arguments about the need for our military to equip and train itself for 'a new kind of warfare'. And yesterday, that oily prevaricator, Tony Snow, assured a Sunday morning talk show host that certainly the suicide and IED attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq were 'unprecedented'.
I guess, from the historical perspective of the U.S., you can't have it both ways. Either Marion was a 'terrorist', just like the opponents in Iraq--or those Iraqis would have to be construed as wily and inventive 'freedom fighters', doing what they need to do to repel foreign occupiers.
I wish I had written down the name of the retired U.S. general I saw on TV two or three years ago, when it first became evident that what was going on in Iraq was an organized opposition, not just random acts of violence. His assessment, to paraphrase, was, "that's it. We've lost. There is no way we can beat this kind of opposition because we'll never be able to find them. The only question remaining is how long we'll take to admit it, and how many more lives we'll lose in the process."
I can't be sure, but I assume he was thinking of the Swamp Fox.

diderot

Update: Today President Bush compared his position in Iraq with that of George Washington fending off the British during his time. As usual, absolutely, 100%, 180 degrees wrong by Bush. The British invaded America. We invaded Iraq.