they showed some courage in fighting for their own country.

the ground fighting" crowd, which includes Obama.

(with a map) that shows what has been gained and what has been lost. It seems there have been a slow stream of towns and facilities won, but it is really hard to understand how much progress this is without that kind of material. Unless someone is far more knowledgeable than I am.



Here's one link that shows who had what a month ago - you can see the city that begins with J with a long line from the side. (I would love a time series of this map!)

That really does seem a pretty big deal. Obama's policy was also a major departure from the Petraeus style surges - that depended on the US military, which succeeded, but left in its wake no coherent governance or ability of the people there to defend themselves. Here, they are the ones fighting and dying and they are succeeding. It is hard to believe that these hard won areas won't remain in their control.

It may show that someone decided that having the people who live there fight invading guerrilla forces is a better strategy than having a completely foreign (US/coalition) force fight guerrillas who could be seen as more native to the area than we are. It also has a natural exit strategy.

going to like that.