Definition of victory in Iraq won't matter unless we insist on one now

[wiggs]

Infamous quote from anonymous Bush senior advisor:

"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

We'll know we've won in Iraq when the administration tells us. We'll know when we hear it on TV. Sometime soon after the upcoming elections, Bush will announce that Iraq has had successful elections (regardless of whether or not they were), that troops will start coming home (even though most will stay to guard our permanent bases), that our goals have been met (even though we don't know what the goals are), and that our courageous military has given us a victory. Around that time the administration may even pull Bin Laden or Zarqawi out of its ass.

Many people will be so happy.

Renditions, Abu Ghraib, white phosphorous, 8.8 billion missing, Fallujah, Chalabi, WMD, DSM, and Plame will be old news...at least we'll be told that. And many will echo it. New misdeeds and problems in Iraq will be on page 24 of your local newspaper, for one day.

The victory will be an illusion of course, just as everything else is. But it may be an effective illusion because we haven't built a strong, durable, logical case RIGHT NOW. I see Dean doing something this week. I see Kerry doing something last week. I saw Murtha doing something the week before. And then Reid before that. They take turns, then disappear for a while. They jab but don't throw the right cross. They rope-a-dope for 5 rounds, do some jabbing in the 6th so the fans get excited, then rope-a-dope some more...land an uppercut, then rope-a-dope some more. Never finish. Never fully frame what is going on. Never fully expose the reality underneath the veneer of misinformation and spin.

We are missing -- have for years been missing -- important opportunities to expose the reality of this administration on a continuing, ongoing, unified basis. This should be easy, facing the worst administration ever. But it's getting away from us...they're getting away with it.

We therefore will let them tell us when we have a victory in Iraq...and when the price of chocolate does down.