] "The bottom line is, at this moment we are losing
] the war," says Andrew Bacevich, a former Army
] colonel who teaches international relations at Boston
] University. "That doesn't mean it is lost, but we
] are losing, and as an observer it is difficult for me to
] see that either the civilian leadership or the military
] leadership has any plausible idea on how to turn this
] around."

"Retired Marine colonel Thomas Hammes, a contractor who trains foreign fighters allied with the United States, says Iraq will take time. “Insurgencies last 10 to 30 years,” he says. “It took the British 12 years in Malaysia” to end the Communist uprising after World War II, and the British were losing for the first three years, he says. “We certainly have the capacity to get it right” in Iraq, he says. “But it is an incredibly complex situation.”

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist at RAND, agrees that patience is needed. But he says the United States has already “squandered a lot of precious time.” He points to bungled efforts such as poorly training Iraqi police and relying on air power to battle the insurgency, which turns civilians against the coalition. “Helicopter gunships become potent propaganda,” he says."

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cast it a little differently this week, at a news conference in Missouri. Iraq is making progress, he said. “At some point the Iraqis will get tired of getting killed and we'll have enough of the Iraqi security forces that they can take over responsibility for governing that country,” he said."

[ More good news, and a fascinating strategy from Rumsfeld. That's the fucking Sec. of Defence talking! EVENTUALLY THEY'LL GET TIRED OF GETTING KILLED?!!?!? You've got to be fucking kidding me. No shit, Rumz, but how many americans are gonna get shot, maimed, or beheaded in the meantime? How many civilian casualties? How many new terrorists are we going to create in the process? What an asinine thing to say. -k]