How will its future resemble its past?

My friend Matthew Roberts forwards me an interesting message, and an interesting video. Here's the video:

There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery. - George Washington

Propped up in bed one night, falling asleep I watched a locally produced program about Rosedown Plantation. The research was good and the staff seemed to have a clue.

Sigh - only 2 days for our first visit to the liberal pilgrimage site that is New York. And for us liberals outside the Western penumbra, who wish their own patch to resemble this multicultural polyglot haven, a visit to New York is a passport to nirvana. It is not just the well-organised subway (more efficient, btw, than those in London, Paris, Vienna or Rome - and much more true to life than the robotic Singapore), or the politeness, courtesy and general help from the average New Yorker. The style and panache of the urban cityscape overwhelm the senses.

There are really two questions involved here:  (1) did the counterinsurgency strategy--led by General Petraeus--succeed, and (2) has our venture in Iraq succeeded.  To the first question, my answer is "yes", but it took the help of Sunni tribes and the standing down of Shiite militias led by Muqtada al Sadr to make it happen.  A degree of battle fatigue contributed to the situation, and al Maliki made some strong moves to quell Shiite intransigence.  Although American forces tried to maintain continuity of its operations after the Strategic Framework Agreement was signed