Fred Hiatt's dumptruck disgorges another load:

Senior officials now think the United States is on the way to defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Words fail me.

No, they really do.

But at last we've got a definition of victory!

Surprise! Fighting imperial wars in a democracy is very difficult. What to do?

The Man in the Grey Turtleneck has, once again, conferred the coveted honor of Wanker of the day on David Ignatius. And how well-earned! However, there's an aspect to the column that has been insufficiently highlighted:

But we go to war with the democracy we've got ...

Future military planners will have to recognize that American democracy, in which political mandates must be renewed in two-year increments, makes us uniquely unsuited to fight protracted counterinsurgency wars. Petraeus likes to observe that it takes, on average, at least nine years to prevail in such a war. If that measure is correct, Petraeus must know there is little chance that a frustrated and angry American public will grant him enough time for success. So [?] the question is: How to extricate ourselves in a way that minimizes the damage to the United States, its allies and Iraq?

Except, that's not the question that Ignatius, a fully paid up member of the Court at Versailles on the Potomac, is really asking, is it?