Generals Offer Sober Outlook on Iraqi War - New York Times

Generals Offer Sober Outlook on Iraqi War - New York Times: "'I think that this could still fail,' the officer said at the briefing, referring to the American enterprise in Iraq. 'It's much more likely to succeed, but it could still fail.'

The officer said much depended on the new government's success in bolstering public confidence among Iraqis. He said recent polls conducted by Baghdad University had shown confidence flagging sharply, to 45 percent, down from an 85 percent rating immediately after the election. 'For the insurgency to be successful, people have to believe the government can't survive,' he said. 'When you're in the middle of a conflict, you're trying to find pillars of strength to lean on.' Another problem cited by the senior officer in Baghdad was the new government's ban on raids on mosques, announced on Monday, which the American officer said he expected to be revised after high-level discussions on Wednesday between American commanders and Iraqi officials.

The officer said the ban appeared to have been announced by the new defense minister, Sadoun al-Dulaimi, without wider government approval, and would be replaced by a 'more moderate' policy. To raise the level of public confidence, the officer said, the new government would need success in cutting insurgent attacks and meeting popular impatience for improvements in public services like electricity that are worse, for many Iraqis, than they were last year. But he emphasized the need for caution - and the time it may take to complete the American mission here - notes that recur often in the private conversations of American officers in Iraq.

'I think it's going to succeed in the long run, even if it takes years, many years,' he said. On a personal note, he added that he, like many American soldiers, had spent long periods of duty related to Iraq, and he said: 'We believe in the mission that we've got. We believe in it because we're in it, and if we let go of the insurgency and take our foot off its throat, then this country could fail and go back into civil war and chaos.'"

Failure is possible, probable, if people lose faith in their government. Members are hiding in the Green Zone and are still being assassinated.

If we "take our foot off its throat". "Its" refers to the insurgency but that's a term that refers to Iraq in general. We're not going to get out this soon and were going to have to keep our foot on their throat.