Winning the War

The New York Times has an editorial by Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack on the state of the Iraq War. The opening paragraph:

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.
Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

As we enter a period where political heavyweights (and moral lightweights) view opinion polls for their direction on the War, it is important to listen to voices like these. The commander in Iraq, General Petraeus, has asked for time to allow his methods to bear fruit. Beneath the din of partisan posturing lies the truth about the war (or maybe it lies above it). Let the troops fight. Let the Iraqis know that we support them. We can win. Read the whole piece.