You are wrong.
Does that help?
Seriously, reread it and then look at everything else Thompson has said about the WOT.
It does not give aid to the enemy to say that mistakes were made in execution, indeed it may well scare the crap out of them that someone wants to correct that, could end up getting more of them killed, something we are failing at IMHO. I know some of my buddies coming back sure would have like to have a little more “flexibility” in day to day operations.
He states in this article a very simple and elegant goal, go about life without being blown up. Al Qaeda does the blowing up so if the goal is no more blowing up, they must be gone. Sounds like a win to me. Then we can come home or move on to the next garden spot with nut jobs.
FWIW I am of the opinion that a lot of folks don’t see us with anything but a small base at most in country there long term. The Iraqis are a proud and nationalistic people and have stated they want us gone once we finish up. It’s a fair deal since we will of course still have a little “pull” there and we have resources in the region anyways.
First we’re presented with NY Times articles as unbiased insight and now the AP.
Next we’ll be told by the Hunterista’s that Maureen Dowd’s columns and Ted Rall’s cartoons represent mainstream opinion and thought.