In war, victory belongs to the most persevering. Unfortunately, the endurance and political will to persist through a tough military slog like Afghanistan are precious commodities — particularly given tough economic times and given complicated military and political objectives. No one would accuse the current American foreign policy establishment of being tough or persevering. So the defeatist critique of General Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy is becoming more popular, and a growing chorus of nay-sayers, armed with copious pessimism but lacking in core strategic arguments, are now rising up to counsel…defeat.