"One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed."

[FlFishOn]

" So we have William F Buckley on one side and Thomas Friedman on the other. "

I seem to have take a trip through the looking glass.

Also from NR's Hanson:

"It is an odd war, because the side that I think is losing garners all the press, whether by blowing up the great golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, or blowing up an American each day. Yet we hear nothing of the other side that is ever so slowly, shrewdly undermining the enemy. "

If it bleeds, it leads. If it is at all unfavorable for America it will get huge world wide coverage. This may be the most difficult battle in the war to fight.

What I can discover from troops on the ground is not too well correlated with what I read in the press. They are mostly content to complete a mission that is progressing.

That said, I have my doubts. I honestly believe Islamic culture is incompatable with democracy. If it takes this war to prove the point then we have an expensive but powerful lesson.