Iraq’s Tenuous Future and American Resolve

I have always felt that just as important as the increase in troop numbers and the new counterinsurgency strategy, which involved getting US troops out into the streets of Iraq and partnering with the Sunni Awakening groups, to the growing stability and strength of an Iraqi society and government, was the fact that all actors involved in the Iraqi conflagration, Sunnis, Shias, Iran, Sadr, Maliki, etc., had to come to the realization that the US was going to be around for quite awhile and they therefore changed their tactics and policies accordingly.