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To my mind the war was won in 2007 and it was won.Our presence there since then has been to maintain our victory and to give Iraq time to stand up on its own. Whether the policy was right or wrong will be debated for all time, but our soldiers deserve our respect and gratitude for a job hard-fought and well done. It's okay to say 'mission accomplished;' it's okay to say 'victory;' our troops did what was asked of them. They defeated Saddam and placed Iraq in the hands of its own people - democratically elected. That is victory.

True.

Like Vietnam, we left it a free nation.

If it falls, it is not because they didn't have a chance.

To my mind the war was won in 2007 and it was won.Our presence there since then has been to maintain our victory and to give Iraq time to stand up on its own. Whether the policy was right or wrong will be debated for all time, but our soldiers deserve our respect and gratitude for a job hard-fought and well done. It's okay to say 'mission accomplished;' it's okay to say 'victory;' our troops did what was asked of them. They defeated Saddam and placed Iraq in the hands of its own people - democratically elected.....THAT IS VICTORY.

Worthy of a second post....I agree Absolutely 100%. And our soldiers deserve to be treated as victors!

I agree we won in 2007. But the mission was not over then.

I stated back when we first went in that this would be at least a 10 year commitment if not longer and we better have the stomach for it.

Why so long? Because the lessons of past wars has taught us that its not enough to “secure victory” to just kill the enemy and exit. I am NOT talking about nation building. I am talking about leaving a govt/national security force in place that is able to defend its own borders.

Iraq was secured on the ground. The Iraqi police and army have been put in place, though they have growing problems to be faced. But the last piece to be dealt with was a credible air force capable of defending its airspace from the likes of Iran. That has not had time to mature. Iraqi pilots are flying prop planes. An integrated air force with modern jets on par with Iran (F-16’s was the plan I thought) was not to be complete for another 5 or 6 years. It just takes that much time to train a cadre of pilots, crews, and instructors.

So our mission is not yet complete, and this administration, for political reasons, has put at risk all the gains paid for by American blood.

I would welcome the comments of folks like Allegra or others who might have some insight into the future state of the Iraqi air force now.

To my mind the war was won in 2007 and it was won.Our presence there since then has been to maintain our victory and to give Iraq time to stand up on its own. Whether the policy was right or wrong will be debated for all time, but our soldiers deserve our respect and gratitude for a job hard-fought and well done. It's okay to say 'mission accomplished;' it's okay to say 'victory;' our troops did what was asked of them. They defeated Saddam and placed Iraq in the hands of its own people - democratically elected. That is victory

Thank you, americanophile, for saying what so very many of us are thinking.

The Bush/Petraeus surge gave us VICTORY. Our troops WON the war.

And I thank God for every single one of them.