Petraeus' 'Anaconda'

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It's a shame Sen. Carl Levin failed to take the time to call public attention to Gen. David Petraeus' "Anaconda Strategy" chart. Gen. Petraeus briefly referred to the chart during his initial testimony this week before Mr. Levin's Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Anaconda chart is a complex graphic that depicts an intricate, multidimensional war. It's tough to describe even with a copy in front of you. However, the strategic concept behind Gen. Petraeus' chart (titled "Anaconda Strategy versus al Qaeda in Iraq") is dirt simple: Squeeze and keep squeezing.

A commercial artist would certainly describe the chart as "too busy," but war isn't an exercise in aesthetics.

The Anaconda Strategy identifies six routes of attack on al Qaeda in Iraq:

(1) Kinetics (which includes combat).

(2) Politics (which includes countering ethno-sectarian pressures and Iraqi political reconciliation).

(3) Intelligence (operations from air recon to intel assessment).

(4) Detainee ops (which includes counterinsurgency in detention facilities).

(5) Non-kinetics (education, jobs programs).

(6) And interagency.