Out of Iraq in 2845 or So

The title is a little misleading but you could extrapolate it from the remarks that General Petraeus made to the Washington Post over the weekend. He obviously needs a little brush up on his military history. I hate to tell you General but the little conflict in Ireland has been going on for about 800 years or so.

Claiming steady, albeit slow, military and political progress, Petraeus said the "many, many challenges" would not be resolved "in a year or even two years." Similar counterinsurgency operations, he said, citing Britain's experience in Northern Ireland, "have gone at least nine or 10 years."

Anglo-Norman mercenaries invaded Ireland in 1169, and it has been nip and tuck since then. I'm surprised that he didn't compare the Iraq occupation with Korea's fifty-year military adventure. Maybe it wasn't close enough to home or something or else he didn't want to give us any false hope. Comparing the Iraq misadventure and disaster to Ireland is not very accurate in one or two other ways. For all of the 800 years or so the Irish have had food (except for the potato famine) and and water and the basic necessities of the time and they haven't been assaulted on a daily basis with shootings and car bombs. Details I know but for the Iraqis I can assure you they are important.