I find arguments that the Surge worked “because we made better use of intelligence” or “because the Sheiks turned against al-Qaeda” unpersuasive. It assumes those activities were possible without the cover of military force. Al-Qaeda would kill informants, often brutally and through vicious torture. And it is a matter of record that any Sheik who denounced al-Qaeda was marked for death — and his family besides.

Just as there is no such thing as a “purely military” solution, there is no such thing as a “purely political” solution. Why are there Marine Guards at embassies if diplomacy were all? Military force, as Clausewitz once observed, is the continuation of politics by other means. They are different aspects of statecraft. Philip Bobbitt in his book The Shield of Achilles observes that the mythical shield depicted religion, culture, law, economics and bronze-armored warriors in one continuum. That is the Shield of Achilles. Information and culture war represent on end of conflict, but the bronze spear represented the other. It is only natural to find that intelligence, diplomacy and war are all part of the same package. Together they strengthen each other. Separately they fail.