Clear and Hold

Frederick W. Kagan and Max Boot each have lengthy articles in Weekly Standard 30 Apr 2007.

Clear and hold is from Kagan’s.

Where is the hold strategy? Where are the resources and how long do we hold, whatever Kagan means by that?

He later says:

“Today, victory is up for grabs, and the stakes for America are rising as the conflict between us and al Qaeda shifts to the fore. It is no hyperbole to recognize that a precipitous American withdrawal would undermine the current positive trends and increase the likelihood of mass killing and state collapse. Painful and uncertain as it is, the wisest course now is to support our commander and our soldiers and civilians, as they struggle to foster security in Iraq and to defeat the enemies who have sworn to destroy us.”

Mass killings and state collapse exist now, hve for 4 years and only get worse.

There is no mention of the hold strategy in the surge.

Kagan is predicting failure, he knows it as well as I.

There is no action being done by our commanders to foster security in Iraq and nothing we are doing will defeat anyone.

Frederick W. Kagan Weekly Standard 30 Apr 2007.

When does Bush start the struggle?