[Clive]
Frederick Kagan reiterates his call for a "surge" :
Clearing and holding the critical mixed and Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad would require approximately nine American combat brigades, or about 45,000 soldiers. There are now five brigades operating in Baghdad, so America would have to add four more ‚Äî about 20,000 soldiers…
The increase in US troops cannot be short-term. Clearing and holding the critical areas of Baghdad will require all of 2007. Expanding the secured areas into Anbar, up the Diyala River valley, north to Mosul and beyond will take part of 2008. It is unlikely that the Iraqi army and police will be able to assume full responsibility for security for at least 18 to 24 months after the beginning of this operation.
This strategy will place a greater burden on the already overstrained American ground forces, but the risk is worth taking. Defeat will break the American army and marines more surely and more disastrously than extending combat tours. And the price of defeat for Iraq, the region and the world in any case is far too high to bear.
As for past mistakes, Kenneth Pollack – author of that influentual pro-invasion book, "The Threatening Storm" – trawls through a very long list. Is it too late to make up for all that lost time?
The Dish 