Surge!

So the new plan for Iraq requires an increase in troops through (at least) February 2008, according to the commander of US forces in Iraq.

"The confidential assessment by the commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, reflects the military’s new counterinsurgency doctrine, which puts a premium on sustained efforts to try to win over a wary population."

Question: How long will it take for the population of a poor but once-proud country in the Middle East, after two wars with the US and a decade of brutal sanctions initiated by the US, at a time when radical Islamic fundamentalism is sweeping through the Muslim world, to accept an American occupation? Having already witnessed four years of US ineptitude and callousness? An occupation that serves to prop up a Shiite-dominated government in an area with a large and radicalized Sunni minority?

Answer: A lot longer than one year.