Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq

Stay the course, Mr. President by Frederick W. Kagan Los Angeles Times August 8, 2005
There's good news on the military front. But if we pull our troops out too early, we risk creating a stronger, more threatening insurgency.

□ “Despite what you may have read, the military situation in Iraq today is positive”
□ “far better than it ever was when we were fighting guerrillas in Vietnam, or when the
Soviets were fighting the Afghan mujahedin”
□ “insurgents in Iraq are not able to undertake militarily meaningful attacks on U.S. troops”
□ “nor can they keep U.S. forces from carrying out the operations they choose to pursue”
□ “The Iraqi insurgents offer only fear. …offering a mainly nihilistic message”
□ “They oppose formation of the new Iraqi government but have not offered any alternative”
□ “Iraqis continue to wait in long lines to join the nascent Iraqi army and police forces”
□ “Over the next few months, tens of thousands more Iraqi troops will be able to take the field in the struggle against the insurgency.”

“In January 2004, insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi said, ‘We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it.’ Eight million Iraqis defied him and voted instead. Their presence at the recruiting stations proves that the insurgents have neither offered them an alternative, terrorized them sufficiently nor de-legitimized the government enough in their eyes to keep them away.”

“If Bush stays the course and pays the price for success, the prospects for winning will get better every day.”