But today Matalin says:
This is a different military mission where -- as we clear and we hold and rebuild so the Iraqis are buying in and changing their attitude about the political system.
BLITZER: But what is different? They have tried that at least once or twice before.
MATALIN: No, they have not. It's been done in Tal Afar. General McMaster did it up there. But what was the critical element was, the Iraqis have to hold and help build.
But over a year ago the last honest man wrote:
The administration's recent use of the banner "clear, hold and build" accurately describes the strategy as I saw it being implemented last week.
We are now embedding a core of coalition forces in every Iraqi fighting unit, which makes each unit more effective and acts as a multiplier of our forces. Progress in "clearing" and "holding" is being made. The Sixth Infantry Division of the Iraqi Security Forces now controls and polices more than one-third of Baghdad on its own. Coalition and Iraqi forces have together cleared the previously terrorist-controlled cities of Fallujah, Mosul and Tal Afar, and most of the border with Syria. Those areas are now being "held" secure by the Iraqi military themselves. Iraqi and coalition forces are jointly carrying out a mission to clear Ramadi, now the most dangerous city in Al-Anbar province at the west end of the Sunni Triangle.