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The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran and the retaliations that would follow), a fair-minded person could say with reasonable certainty that the war has ended. A new and better nation is growing legs. What's left is messy politics that likely will be punctuated by low-level violence and the occasional spectacular attack. Yet, the will of the Iraqi people has changed, and the Iraqi military has dramatically improved, so those spectacular attacks are diminishing along with the regular violence. Now it's time to rebuild the country, and create a pluralistic, stable and peaceful Iraq. That will be long, hard work. But by my estimation, the Iraq War is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won.
McCain is correct and is vindicated for his support for the surge .But both candidates should ,in light of current trends ,reposition themselves about Iraq. A safe drawdown of troops is now a viable alternative based on what President Bush and PM al-Maliki are currently negotiating .Force reduction language (time horizon is the language being used )will clearly be part of the broader security agreement that will replace the UN Mandate set to expire at the end of the year. 