There's been a tendency over the past week -- which I've engaged in as well -- to treat Maliki's comments as if they're a largely political story. But the Iraqi government's stated desire to see Americans set a date for withdrawal has implications far beyond the horserace. Rather, if you believe in the counterinsurgency doctrine Petraeus wrote -- as McCain claims he does, and as Petraeus certainly should -- then this changes everything. Counterinsurgency doctrine relies on political legitimacy: Bolstering the legitimacy of the government as the rightful authority within the state, and weakening that of the insurgency. The Iraqi government clearly see ejecting America as a crucial test of legitimacy. In an important article, Ilan Goldenberg explains more about what that means, and what implications it has four the rest of our counterinsurgency doctrine. Image used under a Creative Common's license from Ping Photostream . . ...
Anytime
There's been a tendency over the past week -- which I've engaged in as well -- to treat Maliki's comments as if they're a largely political story. But the Iraqi government's stated desire to see Americans set a date for withdrawal has implications far beyond the horserace. Rather, if you believe in the counterinsurgency doctrine Petraeus wrote -- as McCain claims he does, and as Petraeus certainly should -- then this changes everything. Counterinsurgency doctrine relies on political legitimacy: Bolstering the legitimacy of the government as the rightful authority within the state, and weakening that of the insurgency. The Iraqi government clearly see ejecting America as a crucial test of legitimacy. In an important article, Ilan Goldenberg explains more about what that means, and what implications it has four the rest of our counterinsurgency doctrine. Image used under a Creative Common's license from Ping Photostream . . ...