The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: War Isn't Fought in the Headlines

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: War Isn't Fought in the Headlines: "The bottom line is that counterinsurgencies take time. And like all political processes, they are complex and often ugly."



A Marine Colonel gives his opinion in a N.Y. Times Op-Ed, today, on a critical question, regarding the Coming Perfect Storm: Are we making progress and how can we tell?



The Right Wing is pushing the narrative that we are making progress, or rather, the Iraqis are making progress -- its their country to lose, now.



The Right Wing is full of crap. The U.S. has lost Iraq. Iraq is, as far as the U.S. is concerned, a dead man walking. The Colonel is paying obeisance to the Right Wing, when he says counterinsurgencies take time. Time is an excuse, a defense against the bullying of the guilty Right, which created this unnecessary mess in Iraq.



But, the Colonel is a professional and says a lot of other perfectly true stuff. He notes that the U.S. has not provided sufficient resources. Counterinsurgencies require resources, and the U.S., as a matter of policy, has failed to provide the necessary resources. That's the truth. And, that is why Iraq will end badly for the U.S., even as Iraq goes on badly for the Iraqis.