Section[ PART II - Strategy in Detail
Title[ ORGANIZATION FOR VICTORY - The 8 Strategic Pillars
ORGANIZATION FOR VICTORY
The 8 Strategic Pillars
-- Our strategy for victory along the political, security, and economic tracks incorporates every
aspect of American power, with assistance from agencies throughout the federal government,
and the involvement of the United Nations, other international organizations, Coalition countries,
and other supportive countries and regional states. It is predicated on the belief that we must
marshal these resources to help Iraqis overcome the challenges remaining before them.
- Our strategy is comprehensive, and relies on a sustained and courageous effort by hundreds
of thousands of Americans and Coalition partners, military and civilian, in the security,
political, economic, and diplomatic realms - in addition to the millions of Iraqis they work
with everyday.
- To organize these efforts, we have broken down our political/security/economic strategy into
eight pillars or strategic objectives:
1. Defeat the Terrorists and Neutralize the Insurgency
2. Transition Iraq to Security Self-Reliance
3. Help Iraqis Form a National Compact for Democratic Government
4. Help Iraq Build Government Capacity and Provide Essential Services
5. Help Iraq Strengthen its Economy
6. Help Iraq Strengthen the Rule of Law and Promote Civil Rights
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7. Increase International Support for Iraq
8. Strengthen Public Understanding of Coalition Efforts and Public Isolation of the
Insurgents
-- Each Strategic Pillar contains at least five independent lines of action and scores of sub-actions,
with specific objectives being met by military and civilian volunteers, Iraqis, and our
international partners.
- Underlying each line of action is a series of missions and tasks assigned to military and civilian
units in Iraq. These missions and tasks are largely classified, but we seek to characterize them
in the unclassified appendix that follows. By understanding our organization, Americans can
better understand our strategy and the steps we are taking to achieve long-term victory in Iraq.
> Each pillar has a corresponding interagency working group - where professionals from the
National Security Council, State Department, Defense Department, Treasury Department,
Commerce Department, Homeland Security, and other agencies coordinate policy, review
and assess the progress that is being made, develop new proposals for action whenever
necessary, and oversee the implementation of existing policies.
- Weekly strategy sessions at senior levels of the United States Government ensure that Iraq
remains a top priority for all relevant agencies with actions along all the eight pillars of
activity integrated and calibrated to changed circumstances whenever necessary.
> This is the essence of a conditions-based strategy: constantly reviewing conditions as
they evolve and changing and redirecting tactics as needed to keep a trajectory towards
long-term success.
- Our team in Baghdad - led by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and General George Casey -
works to implement policy on the ground and lay the foundation for long-term success.
-- The following appendix outlines each Pillar to provide a sense of how our mission in Iraq is
organized. As these pages demonstrate, there is hard work to do, but the stakes could not be
higher, and we are organized for victory to an extent not seen since the end of the Cold War.
"There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the
duties and problems of the world, and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of
murder. This would be a pleasant world, but it's not the world we live in. The enemy is never tired,
never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality. This enemy considers every retreat of the
civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will
keep our nerve, and we will win that victory."
-President George W. Bush, October 6, 2005
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