If You're Serious Only

Because of it's length, this article will discourage those who merely want a sound byte opinion on Iraq.

But if you're serious, the article is incredibly interesting because it details how the Tribal "uprising" is affecting the security situation in Iraq...how it started, how Tribal society works, and how it had little to do with the Coalition or the Surge. It is both both remarkable and makes complete sense that the change is happening at the grass roots and not because of top-down political or security policies.

IF this turn is permanent and continues the direction it is heading...those "for the war" before they became "against the war" folks (uh hem, Nate and Andrew Sullivan) are going to have some explaining to do...how exactly would more troops have helped achieve the desired political outcome? Could more troops have tipped the balance against the current tribal "uprising?"

It's way too soon to celebrate and certainly way too soon to gloat, but then again, that didn't stop many, many war supporters from decrying incompetance and acting as if they had been personally betrayed by tactical decision making in Iraq both by the Coalition and the Iraqi government. I'm just wondering if they would want to wind back the clock and undo all the mistakes and progress that has been made and try it their way. Do you think it would've worked better? Honestly?