Surprising support for the Surge in Iraq
In today's New York Times, there is a surprising op-ed by two scholars from the (liberal) Brookings Institution noting that despite all the fevered rhetoric in Washington to the contrary, the new "Surge" approach to counter-insurgency operations in Iraq is actually making progress. By now the change in Al-Anbar Province – from one of the worst areas in Iraq to one of the most peaceful – is month-old news, but the same sort of progress is being made in Baghdad neighborhoods and elsewhere.
The American public has never been good at supporting a sustained military effort. Even World War II required a massive public relations campaign to maintain support for the war. It would be a huge mistake for politicians who stood fast in support of the Iraq war, even when the tactics on the ground made scant progress, to panic and call for an accelerated pull-out now that the counter-insurgency approach is making real progress.