Some top American officials bristle at the criticism and say the US led coalitions plan has been consistent from the beginning to bring security to Iraq in preparation for an eventual hand-over to Iraqi forces.
"Our strategy is not complicated. It is to train Iraqis as quickly as we possibly can and as efficiently as we possibly can....
And a key point... with as few civilian deaths as possible.
Our guys are constantly put themselves in harm's way rather than shooting at children carrying ammo or carpet bombing Fallujah. If we only cared about saving American lives and were willing to be utterly ruthless, we would be "winning" easily.