October 11, 2004 - `They know they cannot defeat us militarily but they are hoping they can win the test of wills. It’s a battle of morale. It's a battle of perception. They are hoping to cause members of the coalition to decide that the pain and the ugliness and the difficulty of the task is simply too great.'' Donald Rumsfeld - Oct 10, 2004 at Al Asad Air Base, Western Iraq.

"Sometimes I see no reason why we're here. First of all, you cannot engage as many times as we want to. Second of all, we're looking for an enemy that's not there. The only way to do it is go house to house until we get out of here." Lance Cpl. Carlos Perez, 1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq .

"I feel we're going to be here for years and years and years. I don't think anything is going to get better; I think it's going to get a lot worse. It's going to be like a Palestinian-type deal. We're going to stop being a policing presence and then start being an occupying presence. . . . We're always going to be here. We're never going to leave." Lance Cpl. Edward Elston, 1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq .

"Every day you read the articles in the States where it's like, 'Oh, it's getting better and better’, But when you're here, you know it's worse every day.… Pretty much I think they just diverted the war on terrorism. I agree with the Afghanistan war and all the Sept. 11 stuff, but it feels like they left the bigger war over there to come here. And now, while we're on the ground over here, it seems like we're not even close to catching frigging bin Laden." Lance Cpl. Jonathan Snyder1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq

"Stuff's going on here but they won't flat-out say it. They can't get into it." Pfc. Kyle Maio - 1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq

"The reality right now is that the most dangerous opinion in the world is the opinion of a U.S. serviceman,” Lance Cpl. Devin Kelly - 1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq

"We're basically proving out that the government is wrong, We're catching them in a lie." Lance Cpl. Alexander Jones - 1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq

"We don't give a crap. What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?" Cpl. Brandon Autin -1 st Bat. 2 nd Marine Regt. Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq

``So our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces, we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi elections. But, again, it is going to depend entirely on the situation here in this country,'' Donald Rumsfeld - Oct 10, 2004 at Al Asad Air Base, Western Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20794-2004Oct9.html

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-rumsfeld.html

This morning’s L.A. Times reported that the Administration has determined that there will be no action directed at the rebel held cities of Fallujah and Ramadi until after the US elections. It is, as Secretary Rumsfeld has said – a test of wills – and the President won’t.