The Surge is Working?

Flickr photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway. Andrew Bacevich has an sharp analysis of the ongoing war in Iraq in this week's Washington Post Outlook section, including the following harsh conclusion on the impact of the surge:

Look beyond the spin, the wishful thinking, the intellectual bullying and the myth-making. The real legacy of the surge is that it will enable Bush to bequeath the Iraq war to his successor -- no doubt cause for celebration at AEI, although perhaps less so for the families of U.S. troops. Yet the stubborn insistence that the war must continue also ensures that Bush's successor will, upon taking office, discover that the post-9/11 United States is strategically adrift. Washington no longer has a coherent approach to dealing with Islamic radicalism. Certainly, the next president will not find in Iraq a useful template to be applied in Iran or Syria or Pakistan.