When I look at the war, I see steady progress for the good guys (that's us, people) and enemies that can't win if we keep our heads and refuse to walk away from a winning hand. If I thought we were losing, I'd say so. Criticism of flaws in order to win is what criticism should be about.
While we have been in a race between winning the war in Iraq and losing the war in America since fall 2003, I remain confident we will win this race. The only question will be the size of the victory. Do we get a functional democratic ally, a mildly autocratic ally, or some form of a dictatorship that is still an ally but is a government that suppresses a Sunni Arab minority. Any of these outcomes is better than the bloody Sunni Arab minority dictatorship that was our enemy under Saddam.
I still think we'll get the functioning democracy. And we need to get this greater victory in Iraq. While the other options provide a narrow tactical victory, only a functioning democracy can help in the wider war against aggressive and violent strains of Islam that feed terrorism against us.
But any level of victory is doubted by most people, a sizable portion of our political leadership, and virtually our entire press corps. I on the other hand think we are winning.
Somebody has to be wrong. And it's all of them. I'm confident enough of my knowledge and judgment to assert that the conventional wisdom is plain wrong.
Still, it is nice to have the folks at Strategypage equally confused about the conclusions drawn about Iraq:
The chattering class nostrum that Free Iraq and its coalition allies have "lost the Iraq war" is so blatantly wrong it would be a source of laughter were human life and hope-inspiring liberty not at such terrible risk.
I have trouble explaining why so many people seem so eager to interpret our success as defeat and then work to achieve that defeat despite our real world success.
Does admitting that the war is winnable place the anti-war side in the position of explaining why they think the Shias and Kurds should be thrown to the wolves?
Does the comforting myth of inevitable defeat relieve them of the need to sacrifice in order to win?
Is it really all about Bush Derangement Syndrome and the refusal to allow a president they hate have any success--no matter the cost to America, Iraq, and Western civilization itself under an assault from primitive killers?
Could the anti-war side actually will us to lose despite our progress?
We've achieved much already through many phases of the war. We will achieve more and win this war.
