What is "Success" in Iraq
From NPR.org:
“I would say that Gen. Petraeus’ promotion is an affirmation of the fact that the counterinsurgency doctrine he wrote and the counterinsurgency strategy that he implemented in Iraq was successful,” says Lt. Col. John Nagl, one of the Army’s top experts on counterinsurgency doctrine.
There is general consensus that conditions in Iraq have changed over the past year. The changes have, on the whole, been for the better. But the question of whether our strategy has been “successful” is really about whether we have achieved our goals. Has there been political reconciliation among factions in Iraq? While it is true that there seem to be some moves toward Sunni groups re-entering the government, there has been a wholescale outbreak in violence among Shiite groups. Is the security situation improved to the point that we can begin to reduce American forces? No, to the contrary, General Petraeus has testified that we need to maintain forces in Iraq at a higher level than before the surge indefinitely.
Iraq is a difficult policy problem. If we are going to solve it, we must stop talking about “success,” “victory,” or even “withdrawal” in the abstract and start talking seriously about the substance of what we hope to achieve.
