Whack-A-Mole

Hit 'em in Fallujah, they hit back in Mosul. Does anyone in the Pentagon have a clue about how to fight a guerilla war? The trick is, guys-with-a-hammer, that not everything's a nail. Sometimes, just making life better for people might win you a little more of that intangible "capital" (that the president's become so fond of mentioning) to spend, rather than simply slaughtering them, which, as you're coming to learn, results in a net loss.

I'll keep saying it until the United States leaves Iraq: this war cannot be won. The US is fighting an entire country now, and unless the Republicans are willing to kill every single Iraqi in order to free them, we're doing more harm than good in Iraq. I had a conversation last night with our least bloodthirsty Boring Diatribe staffer, who opined that maybe a civil war is overdue in Iraq to get the political structure sorted out. I think the best that can be hoped for at this point is a democratic Kurdistan that doesn't drive Turkey insane. Iraq isn't going to turn into a democracy. Get over it. Any democratic structure is going to last just long enough to elect clerics, and we'll have Iran next door to Iran, which is, of course, what Iran had in mind all along.