Operation Swarmer in Iraq was a costly showpiece to capture a few suspected insurgents. Here is Time’s description of what took place. Apparently not a shot was fired after the "massive" air assault. I wonder how much it cost to mobilize the men and materials needed for an operation of this size – surely, it was not done on the cheap. And there, I think, is the rub. We are engaged in a war where we are spending billions of dollars a month while the enemy is spending perhaps a few thousand. This disparity cannot be sustained in the long run. In an ironic turnabout from the Cold War, we are going to outspend the enemy and find ourselves defeated.
Then candidate George W. Bush famously said to Newsweek, "When I take action, I’m not going to fire a 2 million dollar missile at a 10 dollar empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive. " Unfortunately, our action in Iraq has not been decisive, and we have been blowing up a lot of empty tents with some very expensive hardware.
