Operation Iraqi Freedom is no exception. In advance, in an atmosphere fomenting much anxiety and dread, some pundits predicted an endless grinding Battle of Baghdad, like a modern remake of Stalingrad almost. Instead, the whole Operation's major fighting phase lasted two months, and saw fewer than 200 Americans killed. But, then, rather than have a quick and easy reconstruction period, followed by prompt repatriation of most U.S. troops, we face a gory grind of a different sort. This unanticipated, grueling contest's true nature is emerging now for canny eyes to see: A semi-coordinated campaign of terror and sabotage by Baath Party loyalists, eager to pave the way back to the top for their fugitive, mass-murdering ex-head of state. Angry, scared Iraqi locals are pawns, for propaganda leverage.

We ought to call this new phase of fighting the Battle of Saddam's Return. That's exactly what it is. And like all well thought out battles, its major objective is simple but not obvious at first: Baathist agitators intend that continued bloodshed will pierce the hearts and minds of American voters, and cause us to withdraw our troops while a power vacuum still prevails among the tribes and factions in Iraq.

And so we come to the subject of death statistics.

The media reported over and over, around the Fourth of July weekend, that in the two months since the major combat phase was declared complete, about two dozen U.S. men and women in uniform have come home from Iraq in body bags or shiny aluminum flag-draped coffins. Some folks might even think this represents a total debacle, a failure of leadership and strategy on -- yes -- a criminal scale.

But let's look at these numbers more carefully. Every "good" human being's life is precious, regardless of nationality or cause of death. (I'm putting Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden on the list of "bad" people.) And every person who loses a loved one to the Grim Reaper, whatever the circumstance, feels grief and emptiness inside that never fully goes away. To have a son, a father, a sister, a cousin, a friend, or whomever, die in a brutal ambush in some distant baking dustbowl may well be the most difficult loss of all to ever bear.

But we as a nation, and our coalition partners, need a sense of proportion, now more than ever. Twelve KIAs a month, the death toll in the first two months of the Battle of Saddam's Return, is about 150 troops killed per year. With about 150,000 U.S. armed forces deployed in Iraq at present, that's an annual death rate of a tenth of a percent: one person in a thousand.

Department of Transportation highway safety statistics indicate a roughly equivalent annual level of mortality among avid motorcyclists. That's right. If those 150,000 troops all came home and were discharged and became bikers instead, they'd die at about the same rate. This is not to criticize bikers or motorcycle manufacturers -- it's just to establish perspective. Each of us, as we age, will face increasing exposure to mortality, eventually far exceeding one in a thousand annually.

And at the rate of about 150 troops killed per year, in a hypothetical ongoing "quagmire" in Iraq of that intensity, it would take a full two decades to equal the 3,000 people killed in one day on 9/11/01. Think about that. War is indeed a risky business, but freedom truly doesn't come for free.

The enemy in Iraq, despite their rhetoric of Jihad and Paradise and all the other trappings of extreme fundamentalist Islam, is guided by no more pure ideology than this: cold-blooded murder for the sake of total control. Pro-Saddam foot soldiers have shown an eagerness to slaughter Iraqis who work toward their nation's democracy, whether the victims be rookie cops or translators or just plain random people caught in cross-fire.

Other thugs and hoodlums -- auxiliary troops -- of the Battle of Saddam's Return loot and sabotage an infrastructure that was neglected and rickety even before Gulf War II. Unfortunately for the good guys, major parts of the infrastructure, such as power transmission wires, oil or gas pipelines, and water pipes, are extended linear targets: They run for tens or hundreds of miles yet are useless if broken at just one point. Tactically, this favors our opposition. But the basic military problem is nothing new. Communist insurgents in Central and South America were fond of dynamiting high-tension towers in the countryside decades ago, to black out cities and undermine or embarrass a government. It's too soon to tell if increased attention to protecting these long, thin infrastructure targets is succeeding in Iraq -- but methods and technology, to defend as we help Iraq rebuild, definitely do exist. To borrow another page from history, in World War II the Seabees quickly learned to "Build and Fight," to construct airfields and waterworks in the teeth of hostile fire; Seabees are in Iraq too.

We need to rush more counter-guerrilla Special Forces, and new less-lethal weapons for use in crowd control by regular troops, to the crisis arena. Training, and acquisition, are the keys. To abandon our purpose now, and leave a near-Stone Age Iraq to its fate with Baathists on the prowl and Saddam Hussein most likely alive, would shame America before the harsh judgment of future generations in many countries -- including ours.

To allow ourselves to be tricked, fooled into misperceiving a calculated Battle of Saddam's Return as a pointless quagmire and then pull out selfishly, would hand America's enemies a great triumph. Those enemies, everywhere, would become emboldened. Death rates in the War on Terror, among troops and civilians alike, would skyrocket -- for Americans, for our coalition partners, for neutrals, and for the populace in the very nations the terror-supporters and terrorists seek to directly control.

The Battle of Saddam's Return is a battle we cannot afford to lose. Though the concept of "acceptable losses" may seem abhorrent to many private citizens, the eventual price of not accepting some losses now would be staggering. Grief at a loved one's death is painful, yet it passes, and life itself is all too short for all of us. But in this mortal world the shame of cowardly, foolish choices festers forever.

JoeBuff.Com / Joe Buff Inc. Joe Buff, President Dutchess County, New York E-Mail readermail@JoeBuff.Com