Happy Tipping Day.
Yes, it's nice that the large scale battles are seemingly starting to wind down - though the firefights are not over with yet. But I'd suggest that premature euphoria is just as wrongheaded as all those who were doomsayers in the first 120 hours of the war.
Those with any sense of perspective will realize (a) that an American military victory is inevitable and (b) it has been somewhat rougher than expected in certain respects, whilst much easier in others (the south was harder than expected; the urban warfare of Baghdad has been somewhat easier (at least if you're not a journalist).
The real telling of this story has not begun. In spite of the fact that we've been pre-occupied with the military story - the political story is what it's always been about. And no, I'm not one that believes that story is a success or a failure at this point. The cards have definitely been shuffled and dealt, but at this point it's impossible to know who's holding the best hand given all the bluffing that's going on.
