And yet, as in all counterinsurgencies, the qualitative observations of this long war tell a different story.
FORBES: Bad News For The Establishment: Counterinsurgenices Are Unwinnable
2.
Mr. Gates also is driving the armed services to drop their traditional preoccupation with conventional wars and focus on counterinsurgencies like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
WSJ: Gates Says Taliban Have Momentum in Afghanistan
3.
It's not as if we haven't conducted successful counterinsurgencies before.