What are the metrics?

Who knows what the yardstick is for how well we are doing in the war on terror?
You'd think it'd be easy to find news articles which discussed how we are doing. It's not that easy. Here are the few I found which mention any kind of metrics:

1. BBC - Winning the war on terror


2. Rumsfeld's leaked memo says: "We lack metrics"



Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?

When searching for articles on metrics, you realize that many journalists view the term "metrics" with suspicion, since it reminds them of the Vietnam war and McNamara's metric driven approach.
However, with the current political environment, it's impossible to have a rational discussion about how we are doing against terrorism without some kind of yardstick. Perhaps metrics is a business term that scares people, but something is needed beyond partisan rhetoric.