Skelton’s Requiem For The Surge
Jul 31, 20202K Shares206.6K Views
Skelton is delivering a parade of horribles about the previous five years in Iraq. “We tried everything until we got to counterinsurgency doctrine,” he said, which “worked tactically” — his emphasis; he looked up from his opening statement’s text — “but in my view we cannot call the surge a strategic success without political reconciliation.”
The chairman really is an old defense bull, to use a cliche. But he’s got the outlines of what seems to be a 2008-vintage criticism of the surge from the perspective of what you might call establishment Democrats. The surge was an energetic effort that occurred after it could have made a difference. “I could have delivered my same opening statement from our hearing in September,” Skelton said, “which means I’m either repeatng myself or things haven’t changed that much in Iraq.”
Hajra Shannon
Reviewer
Latest Articles
Popular Articles