Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost (AP)

[News Manager]

AP - The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.




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[The Other Guy]

How are we winning? Have we gained territory lost? Can we go home now? What is your definition of winning? And didn't we already win? Mission Accomplished?

 

[DTop]

I think the rest of the article explains it. Yes, the mission to defeat the Iraqi military was accomplished of course. Hussein is dead, AQ is no longer the threat it once was. Now the focus can begin to shift from combat to rebuilding the country.

Scattered battles go on, especially against al-Qaida holdouts north of Baghdad. But organized resistance, with the steady drumbeat of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and ambushes that once rocked the capital daily, has all but ceased.

We were never there to "gain territory".

Statistics show violence at a four-year low. The monthly American death toll appears to be at its lowest of the war — four killed in action so far this month as of Friday, compared with 66 in July a year ago. From a daily average of 160 insurgent attacks in July 2007, the average has plummeted to about two dozen a day this month. On Wednesday the nationwide total was 13.
Beyond that, there is something in the air in Iraq this summer.
In Baghdad, parks are filled every weekend with families playing and picnicking with their children. That was unthinkable only a year ago, when the first, barely visible signs of a turnaround emerged.
Now a moment has arrived for the Iraqis to try to take those positive threads and weave them into a lasting stability.

That sounds like sounds the surge is working and we're winning in Iraq to me. The more progress we make in this direction, the closer we'll be to the day when we can move on from our focus there.