In Vietnam, the US military used to attack and occupy a Viet Cong occupied hill, abandon it, wait until it was reoccupied, and then retake it. This news report on what Kos described last November as
Whack a Mole in Iraq gave me a bad case of déja vu:
TAL AFAR, Iraq, June 15 - Nine months ago the American military laid siege to this city in northwestern Iraq and proclaimed it freed from the grip of insurgents. Last month, the Americans returned in force - to reclaim it once again.
...
"We have a finite number of troops," said Maj. Chris Kennedy, executive officer of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, which arrived in Tal Afar several weeks ago. "But if you pull out of an area and don't leave security forces in it, all you're going to do is leave the door open for them to come back. This is what our lack of combat power has done to us throughout the country...
(Source: New York Times Magnet for Iraq Insurgents Is a Crucial Test of New U.S. Strategy, June 16, 2005.)
Turns out the "new" strategy is to have Iraqi troops hold the reconquered areas. Wasn't that the old strategy, too?