What do people mean by victory in Iraq? If by “victory” you mean that Iraq contains absolutely no terrorists, well, then thousands of young American soldiers will be fighting (and dying) in Iraq for decades.
I value young American lives highly, so I’m not sure that squandering them to bring peace to a people so far away (when we have so many problems at home) is worth it.
Of course, if you don’t value young American lives highly, then it’s easy to say that losing thousands more American lives to help so many foreigners so far away is worth it.
Maybe I’m wrong. I mean, how do you assign a value to an American life? If we’re going to sacrifice ten more young American lives, what should we expect in return? A hundred more young American lives? A thousand? It’s not clear what we’re getting back that is worth the thousands of young American lives already lost in Irag.