U.S. Response to Insurgency Called a Failure

But that strategy went by the boards with the killing and mutilation of four American contractors, which precipitated a Marine assault on Fallouja in April. That offensive was cut short after U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington decided the bloody campaign was having a negative impact on the larger American effort in Iraq. The Marines pulled back, marking another swerve in the counterinsurgency effort.

"We were winning, but we didn't get a win. It's a hard pill to swallow," complained one Marine operations officer who recently returned from Iraq, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Now, nobody knows what's going on inside the city."

In many cases, U.S. troops have been able to adapt on the ground over the past year. The Army's 101st Airborne, which fought to Baghdad, then assumed responsibility for Kurdish territories after the war, is praised by Pentagon officials for bringing Kurdish leaders into the U.S. fold and keeping the level of violence in northern Iraq to a minimum.

More recently, the Army's 1st Armored Division is credited with successfully putting down revolts by Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's militia in Najaf and other southern towns with a comparatively limited use of force.

"It was a strategic defeat for Sadr," said the senior administration official. The commander of the 1st Armored, Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, "put that mob action down quickly and decisively," the official said.

Some top U.S. commanders express optimism that as the U.S. military continues to adjust to the difficult warfare conditions in Iraq, the counterinsurgency efforts will produce more positive results.

"I think we're in good shape going forward," said Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. "It will all come out well if we stay the course."

At the same time, many experts point out that counterinsurgency work is as much a political mission as it is a military one, requiring a comprehensive strategy involving civilian officials planning reconstruction projects and elections and military officers gathering intelligence and carrying out raids against suspected insurgents.

In Iraq, some top military officials say, the relationship between the U.S. military and the Coalition Provisional Authority was often tense, making such close coordination difficult.

"CPA representatives would not get out in the field to get on-the-spot input for assessment," Swannack said.