This long Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) from over the weekend outlined how Gen. Abizaid views the war on terror as essentially a global counter-inurgency operation. Here’s the opening:

In the fall of 2002, the U.S. military set up a task force here on the Horn of Africa to kill any al Qaeda fighters seeking refuge in the region. The base was crawling with elite special-operations teams, and an unmanned Predator plane armed with Hellfire missiles sat ready on the runway.Today, the base houses 1,800 troops whose mission is to build health clinics, wells and schools in areas where Islamic extremists are active. The idea is to ease some of the suffering that leaves the locals susceptible to the radicals’ message, thus bolstering local governments, which will run the new facilities and get credit for the improvements.Behind the shift is Gen. John Abizaid — a 55-year-old of Lebanese descent and a fluent Arabic speaker — who leads U.S. forces in the Middle East. In May, the four-star Army general visited 17 Navy Seabees, or engineers, at work designing a school. “Those 17 Seabees doing their mission out there achieve as much for us as a battalion of infantry on the ground looking for bad guys,” the general said.In an interview in Iraq later, he was even blunter about the limits of U.S. firepower. “Military power can gain us time…but that is about it,” he said…

Then, this ending:

Gen. Abizaid’s influence is evident in Iraq, where the U.S. has shifted away from its initial focus of building a U.S.-style democracy in the heart of the Muslim world. Today the top priority for commanders is building Iraqi police and army forces that can take over the fight and shoring up crumbling infrastructure. On the political side, U.S. and Iraqi leaders are working to persuade Sunnis who’ve supported the insurgency to take part in the political process. They’re also trying to reach an accommodation with radical Shiite elements. “In Iraq, we are willing to accept a less-than-perfect democracy. Stability and security are more important,” says one U.S. Army counterinsurgency expert. “Instead of mission creep, we are seeing mission shrink.”
As for the Horn of Africa, Gen. Abizaid, from his perch atop the Central Command, says it could take years and much patience to make significant progress. He figures it will also take a lot of help from other departments of the government, agencies that aren’t geared to providing such overseas assistance.
“I just think we’ve got to reform our structures, our authorities and our thinking to deal with the way the world is moving,” Gen. Abizaid says. “You just can’t let these places deteriorate … unless you are willing to accept what they bring you — terrorism and crime.”