POST: Misreading the History of the Iraq War, by Pete Mansoor, SWJ Blog, March 10, 2008

I go all ways on this one. I think/know that the buy-off did precede the surge and COIN, but that the surge and COIN did make a difference. I think we have a happy confluence here, just like when we screw up, it's usually a confluence of bad luck and bad calls. So I don't find adding an additional factor to diminish the COIN/surge story. It's just a complex one. Sometimes success has many fathers because many fathers were involved.

Hmm. Not sure I like that construction . . . .

Anyway, I don't think we have to choose.