Success in Iraq

Fire of Liberty

If you want to truly understand how our soldiers have reversed the tide in Iraq then I suggest that you check out this in-depth piece on General Odierno by Frederick and Kimberly Kagan. In this thorough piece we learn how General Odierno (Who has been rotated back to Texas. In fact Stuart Koehl discussed in a recent piece in the Weekly Standard on how such higher command rotations are causing problem in the military.) and his staff took the counterinsurgency policy established by General Petraeus(As well as a reflection of General Creighton Abrams efforts in Vietnam) and applied it to Iraq thus fundamentally changing the tactics of our military in the area of operations by transitioning the force from one who is garrisoned behind blast walls and only patrols during the daylight hours into a force in which the military forces live and immerse themselves within the various neighborhoods of Baghdad and outlying towns thus allowing them to work with the population in a combined fight against Al Qaeda and its various allies. Now while the MSM and various politicians will find a way to play off the gains of our forces in Iraq, I think it would mean if the American people to look at this excellent piece by the these analysts.