My cousin is currently in Kuwait and is scheduled to be in Iraq in the near future. He should be where much of the guerilla fighting is taking place, so I'll try and post any insight he can offer once he's settled into his job (which are going to be a lot of field operations, as he is an infantryman).

CNN:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Death squads and terrorists have ramped up attacks on civilians in Iraq, killing more than 1,600 people in cold-blooded "execution-style" slayings in July alone, a Pentagon report said Friday.

U.S. troops transferred security responsibilities Friday in most of the key northern province of Tameem to two Iraqi army battalions. Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division made the transfer during a ceremony at an Iraqi military base outside Kirkuk. That oil-rich city and Hawija will remain under U.S.-led coalition control.

Who are we kidding?

Earlier today, during a lecture, another student said it was a politician's job to be upbeat and optimistic about any situation (this was followed by another student saying that as long as you believe you can do something, you can do it. Now, the "believe you can do it" comment wasn't supposed to be tied to any political thought, but isn't it that sort of thinking that gets us into foreign policy disasters? Shouldn't we simply accept the fact that some global problems simply cannot be solved? Or that just because you keep pumping money [and/or lives] into a given field or situation that there is no guarantee it will improve? Shouldn't one recognize when a change of strategy is necessary?)

I think the best leaders are those who are brutally honest about the direction the group is going and why they're moving that direction. The group should also understand what is at stake in terms of cost/reward.