Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
That said, I think this is classic misapplication of concepts to situations where they do not necessarily apply. I have made my opinions on the ethnic and religious map of "Iraq" known. To say this is a culmination point implies a verge in that the surge has brought the Iraq situation to the verge of success or the precipice of failure. I submit it is neither. It is rather a pause in the ongoing aftermath; what happens next is not clear and Scales is interpreting too much clarity into it by positing that anything as clear as a culmination point has emerged.

In contrast, he could be correct if he interprets that culmination point as an Americam culmination point. The surge is being interpreted as a success in the run up to elections; who is doing the interpreting determines what that success means.
Mr Odom:

This is a superbly written assessment of MG Scales's piece. It summarizes my thoughts exactly on it and i tried to write a posting for it but couldnt get it right. In my mind you do. Although i am probably not the one to be criticizing writers using historical analogies (because i did just that in my How To Stop IEDs oped) I think his use of Gettysburg and the American Civil War, in how he applies it to Iraq is deeply flawed. He makes it seem as you say a point of clarity that we have turned the corner. But a more nuanced analogy would have acknowledged that after G.Burg there were two more years of Civil War with many, many Americans dead. Is that what we have to look forward to in Iraq. I usually like the pieces that Gen Scales writes, but on this one i have lost my trust in him as an objective observer and consider him to be now on the "victory" bandwagon.

gentile