Nation gets the battle of the surge upside down

The Nation has taken the rationale for the surge and stood it on its head. The original theory was that the surge would buy time for a political reconciliation which would lead to a decline in violence in Iraq.

What the surge has actually done is leap frogged over the reconciliation rationale by defeating the enemy which has resulted in a decrease in violence and a grass roots reconciliation process. It is working because we have a better understanding of the dynamics of the tribal society in Iraq, while the Nation is still stuck on the top down reconciliation trap.

To take the Nation's advice we should ignore success and push a policy that was supposed to achieve the results we now already have.

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