Quite an important distinction. And one that's not necessarily going to be clear-cut. That's one of the reasons why people like McCaffery are starting to scream about the total absence of command and control, administrative and logistics capabilities. It's almost impossible to keep the local forces going against a broad insurgency if those are absent. Even if an El Salvador model is embraced, paramilitary or special units need equipment, communications and ammo to stay in the fight. Also, with all the focus on Iraq's military, there's not enough attention to the policing function, which in the long run is as or more critical. Though the current negotiations on federalism will presumably have some effect on the trajectory of building police capacity and on the loyalty of police units to the authorities they report to. And then there's the militias.... No matter what, there will be no clear "victory" at least for some time to come, and even the most postive outcomes will have some strong negatives. But that's true with virtually any occupation, so none of this should have come as a total surprise. btw, many thanks for the link!