Tactics and Strategy in Iraq 

Tactics and Strategy in Iraq

U.S. News (via Slate): the U.S. continues to rely on air strikes to keep down casualties on both sides. They are forced to do so, as well, insofar as they can't tell friend from enemy. Air strikes kill indiscriminately, and spread the notion--especially via Arabic-language TV--that the U.S. treats Iraqi civilians as enemies.

I guess everyone's sick of the Vietnam analogies--the neo-cons see themselves as a breath of fresh air for constantly appealing to Britain (not Washington) in 1939--but the phrase "hearts and minds" does arise in this article.

Perhaps one can say: the shorter a time a war lasts, the more likely these tactics are to succeed, i.e. it will be generally accepted that the killing was necessary for stability. The longer it goes on, however, the more likely it is that the sophisticated killing itself becomes a source of instability.