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Has the Surge Put Iraq on the Path to Success?

Council on Foreign Relations

Discussants: Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies
Steven Simon, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies

Updated: May 9, 2008

The so-called “surge” in Iraq, a reinforcement of U.S. forces by thirty thousand troops which began in spring 2007, has been credited by many with slowing civilian casualties, building morale among Iraqi security forces, and helping restore some order to the country, particularly in its capital, Baghdad. Yet critics see it as little more than an unsustainable holding action which has propped up what they regard as an essentially flawed strategy in Iraq.

Two CFR experts on the war, Max Boot, senior fellow for national security studies, and Steven Simon, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, debate whether the surge has put Iraq on the path to success.

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Final Post

May 9, 2008

Steven Simon

Max,

Believe me, I wasn’t impugning Ryan Crocker’s integrity. Those who’ve never worked as a diplomat often don’t understand that integrity means precisely reading your talking points regardless of your personal opinion. And these points are always intended to influence, whether you’re dealing with your counterpart in a foreign ministry, or with your own legislators. In this case, Crocker’s congressional audience understood well enough that he was there to put the best face on things in his capacity as a highly professional career diplomat. The statements, by the way, were carefully scripted and coordinated with the White House. But you know this, right?

Anyway, thanks for mentioning the report I did for CFR on Iraq. It was called "After the Surge," precisely because it didn’t concern itself with the surge. The questions posed by that study assessed the costs to the U.S. of staying in Iraq as against the benefits of withdrawing militarily, while remaining heavily engaged diplomatically and economically.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.