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Undoubtedly we have the capacity to defeat the Islamists. The question is whether we have the will. My point, and Helperin’s, is that we haven't been showing that will and that GWB has been nearly as deficient in this regard as the Democrats.

I never doubted that we would prevail in Iraq. We had to, so I knew we would find a way. We would have invaded Iraq and defeated all comers there even if President Gore were just finishing his second term or President Kerry his first. We'll be there still securing our victory when former President Obama lies in state after dying of extreme old age. Of course it is worthwhile to set up the institutions of democracy in Iraq now that we can. It is a necessary condition of our ultimate victory. Necessary but not sufficient.

George W. Bush never understood that we had unfinished business with Arabia and Persia that can not be addressed entirely within Iraq. Turning Iraq into a demonstration project was never going to cow our enemies in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia et al. Bush had a lot of killing to do that he wasn’t willing to get on with. His naivete leaves us in a strategic predicament which we will soon, I fear, regret bitterly.