PBS FRONTLINE Introduction to Endgame:
On Dec. 19, 2006, President George W. Bush said for the first time that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq. It was a dramatic admission from a president who had insisted since the start of the war that things were under control.
Now, as the U.S. begins what the administration hopes is the final effort to secure victory through a "surge" of troops, Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.), Col. William Hix, Col. H.R. McMaster, Maj. Thomas Mowle, State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow and other military and government officials talk to FRONTLINE about both the military and political events that have led up to the current "surge" strategy. Endgame is the fifth film in a series of Iraq war stories from FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk, including Rumsfeld's War, The Torture Question, The Dark Side and The Lost Year in Iraq...
Watch the full program online.
Endgame Interviews: Michael Gordon, Col. William Hix, Frederick Kagan, Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.), Lt. Col. Andrew Krepinevich (Ret.), Col. H.R. McMaster, Thomas Ricks, Col. Kalev Sepp (Ret.) and Philip Zelikow.
McMaster:
It's important to understand that forces can't be withdrawn prematurely from an area. I think sometimes you're trapped by the initial success of an operation: Insurgents are defeated in a certain area; a life returns to that area; the markets are back open; people are happy again. And you think, wow, things are better now; I can leave, and I can leave behind police forces and maybe some Army and support.
But what's important to understand is that the forces left behind [have] to be just not capable of sustaining the current situation, but they have to be capable of dealing with an intensified effort on the part of the enemy, which is certain to follow a successful operation.
It's also important to understand that the standard for success for these Iraqi security forces is very high. They have to secure a population against an enemy who is —to conduct mass murder against innocent people. The standard for success for the terrorist is very low, because they're —to murder women and children in a marketplace.
And it's very difficult to defend everywhere in a very dense, urban area, so it's important not only that these security forces have the physical capability, but also that they develop very strong informant and source networks so they can have access to good intelligence. It's also important that they develop good relationships in the community so that people are —to come to them for assistance when suspicious people move into the neighborhood.
There are a lot of dimensions to the capability of Iraqi security forces that don't really appear on paper that we have to focus on developing over time.
Timeline: Struggling to find a strategy for success in Iraq.
Endgame "Themes": Bottom Line, What Went Wrong?, Rumsfeld and the Generals, Gen. George Casey, Gen. Petraeus and the New Team, Can the Surge Work?, Misreading History? and The Colonels' War.
Discuss at Small Wars Council.
Discuss at PBS.