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| Iraq |
| Washington Post Sunday Op-Ed: How The Surge Worked |
| 2008-08-10 |
Given the divisive debate over the Iraq war, perhaps it was inevitable that the accomplishments of the recently concluded "surge" would become shrouded in the fog of 30-second sound bites. Too often we hear that the dramatic security improvement in Iraq is due not to the surge but to other, unrelated factors and that the positive developments of the past 18 months have been merely a coincidence. To realize how misleading these assertions are, one must understand that the "surge" was more than an infusion of reinforcements into Iraq. Of greater importance was the change in the way U.S. forces were employed starting in February 2007, when Gen. David Petraeus ordered them to position themselves with Iraqi forces out in neighborhoods. This repositioning was based on newly published counterinsurgency doctrine that emphasized the protection of the population and recognized that the only way to secure people is to live among them. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #2 But I didn't know that, mrp, and I put stuff up here, from time to time, from Mrs. Bobby's WaPo. Ya learn somethin' new every day! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-08-10 14:22 |
| #1 The Op-Ed was posted here yesterday. It's been so long since I've visited the Post's op-ed page that I had forgotten that the Sunday editorials and opinions are put up on the WaPo's site on Saturday. |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-08-10 13:54 |