“I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran and the retaliations that would follow), a fair-minded person could say with reasonable certainty that the war has ended. A new and better nation is growing legs. What’s left is messy politics that likely will be punctuated by low-level violence and the occasional spectacular attack. Yet, the will of the Iraqi people has changed, and the Iraqi military has dramatically improved, so those spectacular attacks are diminishing along with the regular violence. Now it’s time to rebuild the country,and create a pluralistic, stable and peaceful Iraq. That will be long,hard work. But by my estimation, the Iraq War is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won.”
—-Michael Yon, Journalist, Blogger, Former Special Forces Soldier
Most of the problems we have encountered in Iraq have come as a result of ignoring the hard lessons the British learned there in the 1920s.
Once, during the dark days of 2004 while serving elsewhere in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility, I asked one of the finest officers I have ever known, who had been involved early on in OPERATION IRAQ FREEDOM, if the British lessons learned from their 1920s League of Nations Mandate had been considered. The officer told me there had been no time.
There is time now. The final lesson, which must be learned, is how to disengage.