MB Civic

By Joseph J. Ellis | Sunday, December 23, 2007 | The Washington Post

“…Washington eventually realized — and it took him three years to have this epiphany — that the only way he could lose the Revolutionary War was to try to win it. The British army and navy could win all the major battles, and with a few exceptions they did; but they faced the intractable problem of trying to establish control over a vast continent whose population resented and resisted military occupation. As the old counterinsurgency mantra goes, Washington won by not losing, and the British lost by not winning. Our dilemma in Iraq is analogous to the British dilemma in North America — and is likely to yield the same outcome….”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122101414_pf.html