Settling for not very much

In unusually candid comments, Mr Campbell also disclosed that American commanders had decided that the criteria for the “success” of the troop surge would be nothing more than a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year’s al-Qaeda bombing of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, which destroyed its golden dome.

That would be on the order of 800 murders per month, the level of violence in Iraq before the Samarra bombing, or roughly three World Trade Centers per year. In a state the size of California.

So if that's an acceptable level of violence, what's all this “war on terror” about?

Link:Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog » Coalition Of The Had Enough