Victory in Iraq Achieved

A U.S soldier shakes the hand of an Iraqi boy during a patrol in Baquba, in Diyala province some 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, October 21, 2008.
REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Bush War critics often say success and victory has never been defined. It's been defined repeatedly; but not as often as the mantra, "What does victory in Iraq mean? It has never been defined?" *Sigh*

I'd say this is the moment when victory is in clear sight:

Though he'd been on a mission all day and was about to drop, Mike Yon just called from Iraq to let me know that the war is over, and we've won. Whatever it is that is left of violence, there isn't combat. Roughly half of the men in the unit of the 10th Mountain Division he was out on missions with are veterans with previous tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, and in eight months into their deployment in southern Baghdad, they haven't fired a single bullet in combat.

Our soldiers in Iraq have played many roles and worn many hats, but it seems that their primary role now is that of a peacekeeper, providing support to a government and a people that seem increasingly capable of handling their own affairs.

We can declare victory because President Bush wouldn't quit on his troops. If Barack Obama had his way, a triumphant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would have had a chance to have made the same claim over the Caliphate of Iraq.

- Confederate Yankee

More from Michael Yon, via Instapundit:

And the place we're at, South Baghdad, used to be one of the worst places in Iraq. And now there's nothing going on. I've been walking my feet off and haven't seen anything. I've been asking Iraqis, 'do you think the violence will kick up again,' but even the Iraqi journalists are sounding optimistic now and they're usually dour." There's a little bit of violence here and there, but nothing that's a threat to the general situation. Plus, not only the Iraqi Army, but even the National Police are well thought of by the populace. Training from U.S. toops has paid off, he says, in building a rapport.

He says the big problem everybody is talking about now is corruption. But hey, we have that here, too. He'll be heading to Afghanistan next week. "Afghanistan is a bad situation, but on Iraq I can't believe things have turned out so well."

President Elect Obama and Pelosi-Reid wish to "end the war". Thanks to the efforts of President Bush and Senator McCain supporting General Petraeus and the soldiers on the ground, they have "WON the war."

*UPDATE* 11/18/08 0645

Hugh Hewitt, Monday:

Yesterday's vote by the Iraqi cabinet to approve a status of forces agreement confirms what most reasonable people had concluded this summer --that the battle for Iraq is over and the country is stable and secure even though its enemies remain in small enclaves within the country and across the border in Iran. It has taken five years and come at a high cost in American lives lost and in thousands of wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

It is, however, a crucial victory in the war against Islamist extremism and for stability in the Middle East. Only blinkered victims of Bush Derangement Syndrome would want to throw away the fact of a multi-party, multi-ethnic democratic government in the heart of the Arab world, one capable of countering Iranian influence in the region and one that partners with the West in the ongoing battle against al Qaeda. The new agreement calls for the full withdrawal of American forces in three years --an orderly exit that allows order to endure within Iraq.

Zombietime suggests Saturday, November 22nd be declared Victory in Iraq Day.

Cross-posted at Flopping Aces