Apparently, you reality-huggers have been so focused on facts and veracity that you missed the big news: we won the war in Iraq. In fact, the whole conflict is over.<\/p>\n
We know this, of course, because Andrew Bolt, a conservative columnist in Australia, says so. In a piece today, Bolt proclaims<\/a>, “The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.”<\/p>\n What measures of success do critics of Iraq’s liberation now demand? Violence is falling fast. Al Qaida has been crippled. The Shiites, Kurds and Marsh Arabs no longer face genocide. What’s more, the country has stayed unified. The majority now rules. Despite that, minority Sunni leaders are co-operating in government with Shiite ones. There is no civil war. The Kurds have not broken away. Iran has not turned Iraq into its puppet.<\/p>\n And the country’s institutions are getting stronger. The Iraqi army is now at full strength, at least in numbers. The country has a vigorous media. A democratic constitution has been adopted and backed by a popular vote. Election after election has Iraqis turning up in their millions.<\/p>\n Add it all up. Iraq not only remains a democracy, but shows no sign of collapse.<\/p>\n I repeat: the battle for a free Iraq has been won.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It has? Why, that’s great! Indeed, the rest of Bolt’s breathtakingly-dumb column goes on to explain that the now-successful war is justified because the old Iraq was a “threat,” while the new Iraq is poised to “survive as a democracy.” We might hear about some lingering troubles in Iraq, but don’t worry, those are “just criminals” who are “settling scores.”<\/p>\n You know, if it makes the right feel all happy inside, I will gladly embrace this nonsense in exchange for a withdrawal policy. Sure, it’s delusion on a grand scale, but I’m happy to play along. If the right wants to believe that Iraq has been transformed into a stable, flourishing democracy, and the sectarian conflicts are a thing of the past, far be it for me to criticize movement-wide denial.<\/p>\n Just so long as the supporters of Bush’s policy are willing to follow through on the fantasy. Remember the old Aiken adage: “Declare victory and go home”? The right seems to be on board with the first part; I’m ready to see them accept the second.<\/p>\n
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\nLooking around far-right blogs<\/a> this morning, many have heralded Bolt’s child-like harangue as proof that we really have won in Iraq.<\/p>\n