Evolution Of a U.S. General In Iraq

Editor,

Your report about the "evolving" counterinsurgency tactics of Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno reminds me that the Spanish Civil War was used by 20th Century fascists to test their weaponry and technique. The future of warfare being asymmetric, Iraq turns out to be a convenient laboratory for vetting post-invasion theories.

It also reminded me that the Iraqi militias Gen. Odierno and others are "training" have struggled from day one of the American invasion to liberate their own neighborhoods, provinces, and regions. Why then, now that the American occupation accepts these parties' autonomy, do the Americans need to be in Iraq at all?