IRAQ: 1968 redux?

Marines in Anbar province are aware of parallels between 1968 and 2008: American troops deployed in a war that is not popular back home. The war is a major issue in a presidential campaign.

Intelligence officers and others are on guard for any indication that insurgents will try their own Tet Offensive: attacks that would fail tactically but would further undercut public support for the war.

Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who assumes command of 25,000 Marines in Iraq in a few days, sees the task ahead: The insurgents only have to succeed once or twice in all their attempts to give the (false) impression that their movement is regaining strength, he said.

Marines, to keep that from happening, have to be successful all the time in thwarting them, Kelly said.

— Tony Perry, in Anbar province, Iraq