My Ponderings on Iraq

Photo from The Washington Note

This is just a short post to pose a question to the ether (since it is rare for me to get comments). What is winning in Iraq? How will we know when we've had a "victory?" Can we leave if we've won? Can we leave if we're losing? Do we have to stay in any case?

I ask, because it would seem that conservative politicians and pundits (not to mention the entirety of FOX "News") are bent on selling Iraq as a spectacular success. "We're winning," and "the surge is working/the surge has worked" are spoken so frequently on cable news, you'd swear it was an echo. And yet, seldom if ever are we told what "winning" means. I was under the impression that the war was over, that the "mission is accomplished." Isn't the Iraq situation now an occupation? How do you win an occupation?

And as a side note, how long can you call an increase of troops from last year a "surge?" Doesn't a surge eventually just become a presence?

Just wonderin'. . .