Yes, Bush Will Win

It's not just that in Europe every leftist anti-American creep and every world-weary phony sophisticate wants and expects Bush to lose in November, and America to lose in Iraq. Surely the American people won't give them the satisfaction of having their wishes granted. Nor would the American people want to devastate the few beleaguered pro-American, pro-war-on-terror, anti-appeasement politicians and intellectuals in Europe.

Okay, that's wishful thinking. But there are grounds for hope. We are actually winning the war in Iraq, and the war on terror. We're not winning either as thoroughly or as comprehensively as we should be. Still, it is a fact that one year after the invasion of Iraq, Saddam and his regime are gone; a decent interim Iraqi government is taking over; we and the Iraqis have not suffered a devastating level of casualties; the security situation, though inexcusably bad, looks as if it may finally be improving; Moktada al-Sadr seems to have been marginalized, and the Shia center is holding; there is nothing approaching civil war. The failure to follow through in Falluja remains a problem, but it needn't
become a precedent. And last week, the new prime minister, Iyad Alawi, thanked the United States for liberating Iraq, said that it would be "a major disaster" for U.S. forces to leave, and privately said that to win the war you have to kill the enemy. So it's unlikely he will constrain our troops excessively.

Yes, Bush Will Win