The situation in Iraq is not particularly hard to break down from an historic point of view, though it gets much more complicated when you get down to details. That said, the overall method to win against an insurgent enemy is not particular hard, even for laymen, to understand. To defeat an insurgency you must demoralize their forces to the point they no longer believe they can win. We have, so far, utterly resisted most tactics capable of accomplishing this goal. In addition, some very loud and prominent voices have done all they can throughout the course of the war to prove to the enemy that we have no stomach for a prolonged engagement, which has served to sustain their hopes of victory.

One area in which our efforts have been unnecessarily limited has been in our dealings with Iranian interference in Iraq. News that the administration is preparing a more serious stance against Iranian meddling brings hope that the “surge” may be more than just show.

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