There is a huge misunderstanding .... There's a belief that we have a defined enemy in Iraq, and that once you either put those folks in jail, or you kill them, or you secure the streets -- the fighting will just stop. That's simply not the case. There is a root cause of the insurgency in Iraq and it is not America, not religion, not terrorism, not race, not sectarian rifts, not lack of security.

Gen. Chiarelli's, in his Time Magazine article, eloquently says, "To think the security line alone is going to bring peace to Iraq, and solve the problems you see manifested in the streets of Iraq today, is absolutely foolhardy." We have seen that increased security alone is not the answer. Additional US forces only create a counter-productive confrontational environment. It further embeds in people's mind the notion of a police state and not a democracy.

On the political front, we have been working to create a democratic Iraq, but that is a goal, not a strategy. On the military front, we have sought to train Iraqi security forces and turn the war over to them. As President George W. Bush has stated, "Our strategy can be summed up this way: as the Iraqi security forces stand-up, we will stand down." But the president is describing a withdrawal plan rather than a strategy. So if Security Alone is not the strategy, then What Is That Elusive Iraq Strategy?