This is how...

... your tax money is put to good use:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/04/mil-060406-usia01.htm

If I may quote:
______________________

Defense Department Seeks $5.2 Billion for Special Operations Forces
06 April 2006
Funding essential to build skills to win war against
terrorism, official says
By David I. McKeebyWashington File Staff
Writer

Washington – The Bush administration has requested $5.2 billion from
Congress to fund a Department of Defense expansion of the U.S. Special
Operations Command, an essential element in winning the global War on Terror,
says Thomas O’Connell, assistant secretary of defense.

_________________________
The article goes on to make a stunning statement about how we should be winning the war in Iraq: with

America’s “capability and capacity to conduct low-visibility, persistent
presence missions and a global unconventional warfare campaign.”

*snip*

In the war against terrorism, Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs (sea, air and land
special forces) and other elite units have demonstrated their unique skills in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines and elsewhere, O’Connell
said. They have served as “effective counter-networks to monitor, isolate,
disrupt and destroy hostile elements,” by working with allies to bring terrorist
leaders to justice and deny them safe havens.

___________________
Translation: these are soldiers who can run their own insurgency. The stunning speed with which we ran the Taliban out of Afghanistan is proof positive that we can play that game. And we can win. Had we just understood that in Vietnam, the "Cold War" would have been about 25 years shorter...

We should have put the same model to use in Iraq. Now we're teetering on the razor's edge of screwing up royally. Our only remaining option may be to just totally inundate and occupy every square inch of Iraqi soil until we can get it back on its feet. It's the old post-WWII Europe model, and it works, but nobody really wants to occupy another country anymore...

For what it's worth, GlobalSecurity.org is like an International Studies major's pipe dream. Reading articles on that site reminds me of writing papers back in college...