You betcehm Red Rider---Our guys & gals are winning. When you go to war, you are sending people to die and you had better believe in what you are sending people to die for. You don't change your mind a year later and say it is a mistake. If you don't have the courage or don't believe in in it enough to see it through--don't send them.

Of course not. We can not win a war of hearts and minds. Besides the Iraqi goverment seems powerlessand uncapable of running a functional goverment that has infulence outside Bagdad. They can't even agree on a power sharing agreement.
We can only win if there is a functial goverment that keeps Iraq united not if it is split up into three federations. That will not be good for the Iraqi people or the middle east.

Of course we are winning and have been for some time. The fact that you see less and less articles from the anti-war press about the war is proof. The liberals are running out of bad news to report.

All indicators show a turn-around since the surge took affect. The only ones who are in denial are the left-wing media and the democrats who have a vested interest in America's failure.
They say they are for the troops, but this is only eye-wash for those that are incapable of finding the facts or thinking on their own. The left-wing media along with the democrats are anti-military and anti-American, and have been so since they convinced the American people that the VN War was a lost cause. They and their followers are truely pathetic.

It is finally nice to see the media (outside of Wash Times) seem optimistic about the war. We are winning and have been doing so for quite a while.

Let's see: Violence in Iraq is at its lowest since January 2006; Since June attacks against US Forces are on a downward trend; each week IED attacks are down more than 60% and the number of civilian deaths has fallen...sounds like we are winning to me.

Don't forget, things were not peachy in Germany immediately following WWII, either. Just like there were protests around the world THROUGHOUT the entire Cold War against the US, world protest against us now is nothing new.

Once again the Left-wing (anti-US) Press is making things seem worse than it really is.

A lot of people do not understand that winning the war and having a stable Iraqi government are separate issues. We should have had the surge after the Iraqi military was trounced and there would never been an insurgence. Yes, we are winning and it would be refreshing to read more stories of the goods things happening, instead of getting a body count.

The historic victory is occurring within the US, not Iraq, not yet anyway. Those "experts" who claimed that the US had created an endless, eternal stream of suicide bombers are now wrong. Not maybe wrong, Just flat wrong. Many are leaders within the Democratic party and the media. And those who insist that the final solution must be political, not military, have seen their pants fall as the US military has sent millions of volunteers into harm's way, while the State Department can not get 250 to volunteer. There is unending criticism of the caliber and numbers of our diplomats going to the conflict to help. The anti American war leaders in France and Germany are gone. They were worse than enemies, they are exposed as false allies. Europe has an epic problem: who are they? The world has been told that basic stable electrical service is vital to a peaceful Baghdad. Yet the Democrats are now on record as being against the technologies which have supplied 3/4th of the US grid for 40 years, uranium and coal. They offer green nonsense, not answers, for an ever approaching crippling problem, grid collapse.
Within the next year, a lot of leaders are going to be exposed as ignorant ideologues, not in Iraq, in America.

The war in Irak is not a war that in eny way protects US citizens against terrorism or Islamic fundamentalism. A war against terrorism should have started and been finished in Afghanistan to secure that country from terrorist threat. The big problem as the rest of the world sees it is Iran, that's the mother of all terrorists.
It's so depressing to reed the right wing vision about rest of the world. If you have an opinion that contradicts with US, you are communist or �left-wing media and the democrats�; it's a wiev that isolates your country. Further moore it give a message to the rest of the world of the political avarness is among Republicans. We don�t need a United States that�s ruled on stupidity and a primitive politic. The rest of the world need a strong and just United States, the return of � a policy with brains�. We can hope for a returne of the old United States in the words of John F. Kennedy:
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

It is obvious that we are making progress. I just find it hard to believe that certain people would put political goals ahead of our country, which is exactly what some are doing who refuse to recognize our progress.

Not supporting our military and it's people who are putting their lives on the line every day is paramount to treason, but if one doesn't have any concern for the country or will not support the steps necessary to keep us safe, worrying about political goals comes rather easy.

Logical people in this country will keep us on track. We probably will be in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and other locations in and around the Middle East for the next fifty years. The concerned thinkers in this country know it and we will do it whether the politically blinded see it or not. We have to have a stabalized Middle East, we have to win the war on radical terrorism and we will.

John Tyreman
Tucson

I believe we are winning the war. There is real reason to be hopeful that the warring parties in Iraq have finally concluded that killing one another is not the answer. Praise God! Now we have to convince those who have a vested interest in losing the war that they are wrong.
Bob Annett
San Diego, CA

I wonder if the drop in violence has anything to do with the weather changes in Iraq. Terrorist and insurgents in Iraq historically do not like to take action during the rainy/cold season. And it does start to get colder in the late Sept/Oct timeframe.

The numbers on the surge do not lie. Things are improving and the media refuses to report this fact. As far as a political reconciliation, we are seeing this from the bottom up. The Government leaders in Iraq are failing, but the local leaders are resolving their differences. Hopefully this will TRICKLE UP to the upper tiers of the Iraqi government.

Yes!....From the very beginning. The mere fact that we took the defensive action going there to fight for our freedom, offering in sacrificde the human and financial cost, is a great victory which now appears to be revealing with facts...
Pedro M Toro

Don't be fooled by the numbers. The country of Irag will appear somewhat stable as long as our troops are on the ground. Our millitary, has already done what they are trained to do. The Middle East now has a power vacuum that will be filled by the strongest faction. When we pull our troops the real power struggle will begin.

I applaud the Washington Times for reporting such stories. It seemed that when there was a suicide attack in Iraq, CNN loved to show our troops getting blown up and our moral on the floor. However, the progress made in Iraq is being completly ignored by the MSM. Why? I will boycott any news channel that refuses to inform their viewers on basic facts. I dont believe we are yet winning in Iraq but it is obvious that significant prgress is being made. It is also obvious that networks like CNN and MSNBC rather show images of U.S troops being blown than U.S troops making progress on the ground. This is sick! Our watchdogs are playing too much politics and i ask EVERYONE to join me in the boycott against networks that do not give coverage to the facts on the grounds.

There you go again.
What does winning the hearts and minds have to do with winning a war?
Is that what we did to the Japanese Military or the Nazis?
War is about using your strategic,tactical and technological resources at the proper time ,place and in sufficient amounts so as to produce the desired effect[damage&death] on the enemy[winning].
Combatant ratios of ten to one a the point of engagement and leaving no safe harbor for enemy supporters is paramount to winning.
Follow through every successful attack gives the enemy no time to regroup.
Killing as many of the enemy as possible does not encourage enemy efforts it disheartens them.
Our success in Iraq will not win converts accept in the short run.
War is about killing and destruction on a scale that is unacceptable to the enemy.
When there exist in home state a group that is opposed to the war for any reason be it philosophical or political,
they operate as a fifth column or ally of the enemy an cannot be tolerated.
Democratic republics have a difficulty with the paradox of relative freedom versus winning.
The Democrats are as much the enemy as combatants.
If you grab the enemy[Islamic Fascist] or their ally[Democrats] by the gonads their hearts and minds will follow.
The George Patton speech had it right.
It is not about dying for your country but the enemy dying for his cause.
Bomb their cities,blow up there people,kick their ass,destroy their culture.
War is total and until we are committed totally to destroy the enemy it will be difficult to win.
This is a war like no other.

Yeah we are winning the war...much the same way we did in Afghanistan in 1989.

I am convinced that our military CANNOT loose a war as long as we have the support of the American people and good leadership from our elected and appointed civilian government.

We already have had significant victories. Not the least of which the Islamic world has gotten to see what their world would look like under a radical Salafist/Wahabi regime. The Middle East Sunni is more likely to be a Hanafi Sunni then anything else. They have not rejected modern conveniences. The vast majority of them want television, music, barbers, and yes even an alcoholic beverage now and again. They also now have seen that the Americans are not the "great satan" that they have had read in the press for the last 30 years, including western and even American press in the last six years in particular. We have made staunch friends in Iraq, both Sunni and Shia. When Iraq is finally "on their own" and independent, they will be at least as firm friends of America as Kuwait.

Final victory of Islamic fascists will not be possible until we replace the current Iranian regime, and deal finally with Saudi Arabia, which is more responsible for the current terrorism then anything else. Ever since the Saud family took over the oil wealth in Saudi Arabia they have been funding radical Wahabi madrases around the world. Until they stop that funding, and stop preaching racial hatred there will never be peace. Who knows one day we might see Iraqi peacekeepers in Saudi Arabia protecting Medina, Mecca, and the oil fields from the Islamic radical last stand (Those peacekeepers being supported by the rest of the Islamic world).

Success in Iraq is the unification of Iraqis. That was delayed by Presidcent Bush the first who listened to colin powel on ending the war at 100 hours and then abandoning the people he erged to revolt. It took Bush II this long to show that we meant to stay and give them confidence.

Now tribes of both Muslem sects are joining together to fight for peace. Unification in Iraq will come from the bottom up eventually forcing the govorment to accept this. Their economy is soraing, finally electricity has surpassed prewar, sanitation, missing though out the ME, is being adopted.

Yeah, we're winning and have been for a long time. Remember Tarawa was won on the 4th and last day...

Is having the current upper hand considered "winning"? Perhaps, but the winds could change just as quickly as a desert dust storm. If the locals continue to confront ALL the terrorist groups,local IMAMS militias included, the US military and the Iraqi people will win this war against subjugation. If, however, the USA pulls out too many troops too early, without ensuring the local populaces' safety and security in the cities, the local police may not have the training, firepower or experience to repel a new insurgent "surge". The answer is to make sure IRAQ is fundamentally secure...and then reduce troop levels to a support force.

The Iraq War was WON during the FIRST WEEK of international military action at the time Saddam went into hiding.

The aftermath of this swift military victory in Baghdad and the socio-economic stabilization of the area following the assault conflict has been the continuing issue - and mostly with Islamic militants and with the anti-Bush Admin. mainstream media (NY Times, LA Times, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc.)

With over two centuries of peaceful elections experience, we Americans are still trying to figure out how to make representative democracy work smoothly. Expecting an Islamic culture with deadly secular infighting to embrace representative government is like trying to herd cats.

In true Western Roundup fashion it looks like the cats are finally being herded. Yippie yi oooooh, yi yaaaaay! [western cowboy speak]

And once again, the Democrats are trying to destabilize the situation at the possible expense of American military lives. First it was the Armenian debacle, now it is tying the war funding to an immediate withdrawal. This is a purely partisan political anti-Bush, not anti-war agenda. Cindy Sheehand and Code Pink do not speak for 51% of the population and there are not mass anti-war marches across the country. If mission requirements are not funded to a point of current operational stability, it will, over time, provide vulnerabilities that will entice more terrorist actions, i.e. violence and a corresponding increase in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths. It's a simple blame strategy, if Bush is forced to withdraw, he becomes the Nixon image. If not, the next President, (they are hoping Democrat) will have to deal with it and a possible implosion of Iraq and the subsequent consequences to energy and the economy, while trying to run the government on a national healthcare and tax increase agenda.

While I see & hear Congressional Democrats demanding America retreat from Iraq, I have not heard any military or foreign policy experts suggesting this is a great idea. On what basis do Democrats make the demand to bring home the troops? Is this an admission that America has won the war? If not, why on earth would we quit and watch our efforts collapse?