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Great catch by Andrew Sullivan. The Pentagon was hoping this Marine Corps general would provide a defense of their strategy in Anbar province. But instead, in a very clever way, he openly admitted that it has been a failure:

A senior American commander in Iraq said Tuesday that U.S.-led military operations are "stifling" the insurgency in western Anbar province but are not strong enough to defeat it.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer told reporters in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Fallujah that he has enough U.S. troops — about 30,000 — to accomplish what he called his main mission: training Iraqi security forces.

"For what we are trying to achieve out here I think our force levels are about right," he said. Even so, he said the training of Iraqi soldiers and police had not progressed as quickly as once expected.

"Now, if that mission statement changes — if there is seen a larger role for coalition forces out here to win that insurgency fight — then that is going to change the metrics of what we need out here," he added.

It is absolutely critical to understand what he is saying here. He has enough troops to complete the mission he has been assigned. That mission is to stifle, but not defeat, the insurgency. And if the mission was to aim for their defeat, he would need more troops.

The fundamental point here is that the military does not assign itself its mission. The civilian leadership does. It alone has final responsibility for setting the strategic course.

Now I ask you... The president has defined Iraq as the central front in the war on terror, and the war on terror as the great battle of the 21st century. He has also argued that it is his vison, and only his vision, of national security policy that can ensure victory in this great struggle.

So why then precisely has he tasked our military with something less than total victory? Why is stifling, rather than eliminating, the insurgency our goal? Why on earth has he decided that we should fight this great clash of civilizations with anything less than a total and complete commitment?