SO WE CAN BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW, RIGHT?

Andrew Bolt in Australia's Daily Telegraph:

The war in Iraq has been won

... The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.

...Violence is falling fast. Al Qaida has been crippled.

The Shiites, Kurds and Marsh Arabs no longer face genocide.

What's more, the country has stayed unified. The majority now rules.

Despite that, minority Sunni leaders are co-operating in government with Shiite ones.

There is no civil war. The Kurds have not broken away. Iran has not turned Iraq into its puppet.

And the country's institutions are getting stronger. The Iraqi army is now at full strength, at least in numbers.

The country has a vigorous media. A democratic constitution has been adopted and backed by a popular vote.

Election after election has Iraqis turning up in their millions.

Add it all up. Iraq not only remains a democracy, but shows no sign of collapse.

I repeat: the battle for a free Iraq has been won....

Fine. So let's make a deal, Iraq War fans.

I will stand with you in Times Square at high noon and declare to the world that I was wrong and you were right and the glorious Iraq War was not only vitally necessary but has now proved to be an unqualified success.

You, in turn, immediately have to start the process of bringing the damn troops home and not stop until they're all home.

Deal?

Oh, of course not:

... yes, the killings are ghastly. Iraq is nowhere near safe, and our help is still needed to make it so.

So we've won, but we haven't won. We've won in the way that really counts to right-wingers -- i.e., you feel empowered to say, "Nyah-nyah, liberals suck!" -- but we haven't won in the sense of, y'know, actually securing the peace.

I guess it all depends on what the definition of "won" is.

But since trumping liberals is more important than ending violence, the former meaning of "won" is clearly more important than the latter.

So sure, go ahead, declare victory -- over liberals, the real enemy. And then start getting the troops the hell out of Iraq.

*****

UPDATE: Oh, isn't that nice -- this post is quoted in the Opinionator blog of The New York Times. But the word "damn" (in the phrase "bringing the damn troops home") is edited out! Holy crap -- now you can't say "the damn troops"? Whose version of political correctness is that?)