Back in Iraq "clear and hold" is failing to hold

The U.S. forces are fighting a pitched battle to regain control of Haifa St. in downtown Baghdad.

US-led forces have battled fighters in what they said was an operation to regain control of a major street cutting through the heart of Baghdad.

"There is a fight going on. Units are engaged," Steven Lamb, a US military spokesman said on Wednesday, confirming an operation was under way to restore control to the mainly Sunni Arab area.

Haifa Street, a long street of high-rise buildings, runs along the west bank of the Tigris River that cuts through the capital.

Helicopters circled overhead amid columns of smoke and the sound of gunfire, where US and Iraqi forces said they killed more than 100 fighters earlier this month.

Unless I'm wrong, Haifa St. is precisely where we were fighting a day long pitched battle a few days ago. So, here we are back again. I guess that "clear and hold" thing isn't working too well. Just what about the "hold" part don't they get?

It seems to me that, once again, we're playing "whack a mole." But, in this case, the moles came back up in the same place we whacked them.