Actually, Steyn's comment about Jill St. John is one of his rare misfires. In reality, she is brilliant and possesses a near genius-level IQ.
On a more serious note, it's also not the case that we haven't tried to interdict the insurgents and their supply lines from Iran and Syria. Our forces have repeatedly executed remarkably successful operations, from a military perspective, but which have been time and again aborted, undone, or rolled-back by the diplomatic and political authorities.
One such effort, which was highly publicized, was the abortive First Battle of Fallujah, where the Marines had the terrorists cornered and were ready to administer the coup de grace, but Paul Bremer allowed himself to be suckered by the promises of "local leaders" who were in fact insurgent sympathisers, and thus p***ed away the Marine's hard-won victory. No matter how we spin it here on FR, around the Arab world they consider that battle a victory for them.
Another successful campaign, though not highly publicised, which wound up being FUBAR'ed by the diplomats and politicians was the "river road" interdiction campaign which choked-off the supply line of men and materiel streaming into western Anbar province along the Euphrates River through the insurgent-controlled towns and bases near the Syria/Iraq border. Our troops did a tremendous job cleaning out those rat's nests on the Iraqi side, but when the moment arrived to finish the job AND send the proper message to Syria by taking-out the ones on the Syrian side, the diplomats and politicians lacked the will, lost their nerve, and pulled the plug. Eventually, as our forces redeployed into other missions in other areas, the insurgents simply flowed back into the vacuum and resumed their operations.
Upon consideration of all these factors, I believe things might have gone better if Jill St. John had been in charge. In addition to her intelligence, she would certainly have been a good morale booster and inspiration for the troops!
I just like the ref to Miss St John., I don't know about her IQ, but the point he was making is she is no longer an A list star, just as the members of the ISQ - they were big once. You are right about our military. I have been mad at our State Dept for 5 years now. There is something about that place.