John Keegan is England’s foremost military historian and, for many years, was the Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. His book — The Second World War — is arguably the best single volume book on World War II and his book The Face of Battle is essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the history of warfare. His newest book — The Iraq War — was published in 2004, and here are prior posts on Mr. Keegan’s views on the Iraq War.
In short, when John Keegan talks about war, pull up a chair an listen.
In this Daily Telegraph op-ed, Mr. Keegan provides a pragmatic analysis of the American-British approach to the war and elections in Iraq. In so doing, he disabuses several popular notions about the war effort, including the notion that the current violence in the Sunni Triangle and Baghdad reflect larger problems with the war effort:

Regarded solely as a military operation, the Iraq war of 2003 was a scintillating success. It is the aftermath that has sowed doubt among those who supported the decision to risk an attack.
Casualties among the Western forces have risen. Casualties among Iraqis have risen even higher and continue to rise; not, however, for the reasons foreseen by the anti-war party. It is not conventional force or conventional defence tactics that end lives, but something quite different, which may be called large-scale terrorism, largely by car bombing, suicide bombing and the assassination of Iraqis who co-operate with Westerners.
This is not a new development. What is going on in Iraq resembles the second Palestinian intifada, though it is more intensive and better organised. It is also more difficult to counter, since the Western forces lack the detailed intelligence to which the Israeli security forces have access.

Mr. Keegan also puts to rest the increasingly popular notion that America’s involvement in Iraq is “becoming another Vietnam:”

Some critics of Western occupation policy are raising the idea that Iraq is becoming a Vietnam, a popular thought with old-style opponents of American foreign policy, but quite inaccurate. What America confronted in Vietnam was ideological nationalism, organised at several levels, political and military, all ultimately depending on the Vietcong’s ability to defeat the enemy by conventional methods. There is absolutely no equivalent in Iraq of the Vietcong main force and its battalions of highly motivated infantrymen.

With his powerful historical perspective, Mr. Keegan goes to explain the source of the Iraqi opposition, the difficulties involved in quelling it, and the threatening nature of the upcoming elections to that opposition. These are compelling and thoughtful points of a true clear thinking expert on the nature of war. Check out the entire article.