What is the "Surge?"

[Rank amateur]

I have no faith in the Iraqi political system, which is where I think the definition of success has to come from.

Thanks for the excellent comments and insight. I suggest that we have a great deal of influence over the definition of success. There's no reason we can't declare supporting an Iraqi government until it asks us to leave a roaring success. I realize Obama is just a senator, but if he and Maliki can work out a withdrawal timetable, there's no reason that Maliki and a president can't. (The British haven't spent a lot of time worrying about what's happened to Malaysia since they left.) The Middle East is obviously more strategical important than Malaysia but no one is even think about abandoning our military presence in the Middle East.

[Alsultani]

Thanks for the excellent comments and insight. I suggest that we have a great deal of influence over the definition of success. There's no reason we can't declare supporting an Iraqi government until it asks us to leave a roaring success. I realize Obama is just a senator, but if he and Maliki can work out a withdrawal timetable, there's no reason that Maliki and a president can't. (The British haven't spent a lot of time worrying about what's happened to Malaysia since they left.) The Middle East is obviously more strategical important than Malaysia but no one is even think about abandoning our military presence in the Middle East.

At one level I agree with you. (although the Brit veterans who were on the ground in Malaysia no doubt did spend a lot of time thinking about it) Will simply leaving and declaring the mission a success because there is "an" Iraqi government in place satisfy me? I would wonder if it was worth all the blood my unit and others have shed. I have a hard time looking at the current Iraqi government and thinking of the word "success." In my opinion they haven't deserved the blood and treasure we have spent.

However, I don't want to digress into all my personal issues. Perhaps if a thread is created called "Horror stories of the systemic complicity, corruption and incompetence of Iraq power holders," I will have more to say. I have to confess that my finding of this website was due to the recent coverage of Small Wars Journal's own David Kilcunnen and his comment on the Iraq war, as quoted by Spencer Ackerman in the Washington Independent. This led to my reading of his response on this site.

As I indicated, I'm new to the site, and just now embarking on formal study of strategic considerations in counterinsurgency and asymmetrical warfare, so please be patient with my micro perspective. I look forward to learning from you all.

[Rex Brynen]

Not much new in this, but a useful brief summary of the polling data:


Iraqi Public Opinion on the Presence of US Troops

July 30, 2008
Testimony of Dr. Steven Kull
Director, Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA),
University of Maryland
Director, WorldPublicOpinion.org

July 23, 2008 - 2:00 PM

Before House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight

In closing, it is clear that the Iraqi people are quite eager for the US to lighten its military footprint in Iraq. More importantly it appears that they are eager to regain their sense of sovereignty. As long as they do not have this sense, they are likely to continue to have a fundamentally hostile attitude toward all aspects of the US presence in Iraq. However, as Iraqis gradually regain this sense that their country belongs to them, they will likely move toward wanting some ongoing relationship with the US, both economic and military, to help them find their way out of this troubled period of their long history.