...I find myself wondering if this isn't the beginning of a significant reversal of doctrine, from conventional warfare as the norm and "COIN" and other special ops as the exception; to a doctrine in which this kind of thing is what we do first, and reserve conventional military operations for the situation in which some nation is dumb enough to challenge us head-on where we're strongest.

The term "beginning of a significant reversal of doctrine" has an exact meaning, and I interpreted it as such.

That statement is not true, and if I weren't so mentally exhausted from all this crap, I would dig up the many press conferences, reports, and other military and other sources showing his techniques being used by him and others since almost the beginning of the war. In Mosul, and other places. I could point out that his current position, prior to his reassignment, was training other military personnel in these methods.

This article is almost a year old.

But then, this is still about Bush, and the meme of him suddenly regretting his ways and having an epiphany about using Petraeus' methods is more useful than the truth.