Yes, we do not have enough troops to throttle the enemy's resistance. Absent an increase in Iraqi strength to allow the Iraqis to grind down the enemy, make deals with the locals, and slowly move the population from enemy to neutral and from neutral to friendly, the only way to militarily "solve" the problem (for a generation, anyway, until a new crop of angry young men grow up) is the time-honored method of mass killing. A nice Daily Kos writer kindly linked to me, stating that I advocated genocide. I did nothing of the sort, of course. I guess I was Dowdified.
Well, back on the point of Anbar, the Iraqi government has turned a whole bunch of tribal leaders to the government's side to fight the foreign jihadis out west and the tribal leaders have promised 30,000 light infantry for the job:
Coalition forces in Iraq have suddenly received the manpower equivalent of three light infantry divisions. They did not suffer any repercussions in domestic politics as a result, and now have a huge edge over al-Qaeda in al-Anbar province. How did this happen? Tribal leaders in the largely Sunni province on the Syrian border got together and signed an agreement to raise a tribal force of 30,000 fighters to take on foreign fighters and terrorists.
These leaders have thrown in with the central government in Baghdad. This is a decisive blow to al Qaeda, which has been desperately trying to fight off an Iraqi government that is getting stronger by the week. Not only are the 30,000 fighters going to provide more manpower, but these tribal fighters know the province much better than American troops – or the foreign fighters fighting for al Qaeda. Also, this represents just over 80 percent of the tribes in al-Anbar province now backing the government.
The local Sunni leaders have added it up. And contrary to the view among many defeatists here, they have not concluded we are doomed to defeat.
Oh, and I did call this national resistance quite some time ago.
The eagerness of some to surrender to or retreat from an enemy no matter how battered that enemy is, is simply astounding to me.
