Sorting Out the Al Qaeda Equation
George Packer packs more punch into a single paragraph than most bloggers, myself included, do in a single week.
Yes, the inestimable Packer, a longtime New Yorker writer, is blogging these days.
He had this to say at his new Interesting Times blog:
“Al Qaeda in Iraq has had an outsized strategic effect compared to its numbers. By slaughtering thousands of Shia civilians, it has plunged Iraq into civil war. Killing or capturing large numbers of Al Qaeda followers may be the main achievement of the surge. (I’ve heard this from officials close to General Petraeus.) But note that this is not the same thing as successful counterinsurgency, which depends on protecting the population, not eliminating the enemy. Note also that the Iraqi civil war has moved far beyond retaliatory attacks between Sunni and Shia extremists; it affects the whole population and is no longer driven by Al Qaeda car bombs. In other words, going after Al Qaeda in Iraq is an admission that we can’t prevail in the larger war. Finally, note the Administration’s argument for elevating Al Qaeda in Iraq to No. 1: We have to fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here. But, as [Fred] Kaplan points out, the new intelligence estimate says that the opposite is true.”
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6 Responses to “Sorting Out the Al Qaeda Equation”
Where’s napalm when it’s truly demanded?
(I’d suggest other chemicals, but that would expose too much baggage among others on this site.)
I’m confident you’re happy about that prose as well as other bad news for this country in Iraq and elsewhere, Shaun. Will you be consistent after 2008?
Pat Lang, for whom I have great respect, is extremely knowledgeable about the mideast having been DIA’s expert, has a column up which discusses Packer’s point more extensively.
Pat Lang
DLS:
You are one conflating creature, as well as totally misreading Packer’s deductions.
Am I happy about a war that has sucked nearly 400 billion large out of the Treasury and taken tens of thousands of lives? Of course not.
Will I be as consistent after 2008? You bet. In fact I am special ordering an extra-large drool cup in anticipation of all the hijinx that President Clinton will offer.
jdledell:
Thank you for the Lang link. It is a must-read.
PL is always a good read, he worked in the ME and speaks Arabic, I wonder how many in the W administration and the WeeklySubstandard can say the same. Lind also is waying in on the militarys approach and surge. Seems the B-2 and aerial bombardment have resurfaced, while the heavy bombing worked in Yugoland, it is counter productive to real COIN, so claims Lind.
Given your behavior recently, you’ve invited a severe test of this pledge.
If it’s true, Hillary won’t let you down.