we've already won the part of the war that our forces were designed to win. the administration never updated its message, its just a constant mantra of "stay the course". the public message needs to be much broader then that.
changes are coming in 2006 - troop reductions, giving iraqi forces more responsibility, especially for missions like transportation and checkpoint duty - the US takes almost all its KIA from IEDs and car bombs. our forces will become more "base centric" and be used for major offensive operations. And all of these moves are good ones. The administration, at some point, is going to have to explain the coming strategy. They are not doing it now because they fear it will signal "withdrawal" at the wrong time. But as time marches on, they will have to update the message as the military strategy evolves.
Right. No reason we can't declare victory and leave, except that Bush has painted us into a corner regarding the definition of success being a shining city on a hill in the Middle East. He's allowed the terms of victory to get ridiculously out of hand.