Offering an opinion on whether the war is going well or not is kind of a lose-lose situation, with structural and media forces pushing you toward endless caveats. I remember being in Afghanistan in 2008 and hearing officers tell me about all the stuff they lacked to do their jobs. They wanted that story out there, because it helped build media pressure on the political establishment to increase troops, money and equipment for the war. That’s the same reason you saw a lot of soldier quotes in 2005 and 2006 from Iraq along the same lines. But if you take it too far, then the broader audience can think that Even The Commanders Believe It’s Hopeless.

Anyway, just saying.