Can it be defeated?

This is a fascinating and very educational interview with a former special forces officer and authority on counterinsurgency wars. There are links at the top to watch online which takes you to the 4 segments of an hour PBS program on the Iraqi insurgency. It takes you from the origins around the time of invasion and up to about a year ago when it was initially aired. I know it is no short video clip but I would encourage anyone with an interest in just what we're up against to watch it in it's entirety. This is obviously not for the squeamish or weak at heart. The video itself is not all that disturbing, but there are some interviews with victims of the insurgents, innocent civilians living in Tal Afar(I think) which are pretty graphic in their depictions of the events there. These are not nice people in case you missed that. They have no scruples and will stop at nothing to ensure the chaos continues and the country is ungovernable. There has been some division among the insurgents and from what I gather from the information there is not a central structure of any kind. Instead there are 50 to 100 different groups acting somewhat independently of each other. This of course presents an advantage and a challenge at the same time. The lack of any cohesive structure or strategy limits the overall effectiveness of their attacks. On the other hand, their lack of any central command makes it very difficult to bring them down.



The future of Iraq is still uncertain at this point. One thing we do know for sure, our forces cannot be defeated militarily, but they can fail to win if the political process doesn't take hold as it should. There is a long road yet ahead. I don't know if we as a country have the stomach for it, but I hope we can manage to keep it together long enough to stabilize their country and make for a safe way in the future.

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