I would say we need to change our expectations of what victory and loss mean going forward, since wars just aren’t going to be settled the way they were in the past. So many pundits were saying the war was unwinnable, or there was no military solution or as Harry Reid said, the war was lost. Well, those are absolutes too, and they weren’t being nuanced when it came to their opposition, but they were all proven to be wrong.

Our mission objectives were not to force an unconditional surrender by those militia and jihadist groups, but just about all of our mission objectives that we did have – even from 2003 – have been achieved.

If patreaus and ware are not comfortable with using “win” or “victory” to describe the situation, its because they still have to field a team in a violent game while the clock is still running, even though its nearing the end of the 4th quarter and we are up 72 to 3.

Technically the war was over after the initial invasion. Then we simply failed to secure the peace and so some secondary quasi-war started against no specific enemy. Yes, people said we were fighting al Qaeda, but you and I both know it wasn’t just aQ. It was disgruntled former soldiers, religious militias, etc.

Thankfully we changed strategies and the violence has gone down, but until we hand Iraq back over to the Iraqis, we won’t know how this country is gonna go. Sectarian anger is still very much alive and it’s not just going to go away because we put up concrete barriers dividing neighborhoods. Because those barriers will eventually have to come down. And I’ve been making that point year after year after year.

And when everybody from David Petraeus to Michael Ware say that using terms like “winning” is not a good way to describe positive movement in Iraq.

I know that’s not the answer you wanted, but that’s Iraq.

I wonder if President Obama acknowledges that the Iraq war is over and we won. Will he give credit to the previous administration for getting their act together and winning the Iraq war? When he talks to our military personel as their commander in chief, will he thank them for winning the Iraq war? Does he realize that the timetable for withdrawal is completely administrative since the Iraq war has been won? One more time. The Iraq war is over and we won.

Justin, do you think the Iraq war is over and we won? Just curious.

It also prohibits the U.S. from using Iraqi territory to attack Iraq’s neighbors, like Syria and Iran.

So an attack based somewhere other than Iraq, say a guided missile cruiser in the Persian Gulf, wouldn’t be covered by the SOFA.