Backstreets of War

History's lessons show that successful counterinsurgency campaigns require time, patience, and luck. The U.S. effort underway in Iraq looks to be no different.

Peter Maass, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has profiled the efforts of U.S. Army Major John Nagl, a counterinsurgency scholar and now a battlefront officer in America's slow, messy, deadly struggle in Iraq.

Click the "Listen" link to hear a conversation with Peter Maas about the counterinsurgency war in Iraq.

Guests:

Peter Maass, contributing writer, The New York Times Magazine, author of the article, "Professor Nagl's War," about counterinsurgency in Iraq in the latest issue

Stephen Metz, chairman of the regional strategy and planning department, U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute.