He admits that for such a small number, they are doing a lot of damage:
Gen. John Abizaid said that despite the relatively small numbers, the insurgent forces have considerable training, funding and supplies.
Abizaid said the largest and most dangerous portion of the opposition forces consists of loyalists of ousted president Saddam Hussein. Foreign fighters also pose a threat and are entering Iraq through porous borders, Abizaid said.
"The goal of the enemy is not to defeat us militarily," Abizaid said in a news briefing from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Florida. "The goal of the enemy is to break the will of the United States of America, to make us leave."
That's a fair assessment. The easier goal is, of course, to simply make us leave, and, despite paying lip-service to the notion of sticking around, all indications are that the insurgents are closer to achieving their goal than we are.
See, that's the problem with a guerilla war. The objectives of either side are usually not the same, and the entrenched enemy has the advantage both in being dug in and in really only having to break the spirit of the force trying to break in. In this case, we, the force trying to break in, would need to eliminate the threat of these 5000 insurgents by defeating them militarily, which is very unlikely to happen anytime soon...and certainly not before 2004.
Why do I have the feeling we are destined to be the French approaching the army of Henry the Fifth on the day of Saint Crispin?