They would know wouldn’t they? Can’t we trust our troops to know what the situation is on the ground in Iraq:

For the U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, the war is alternately violent and hopeful, sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold. It is dusty and muddy, calm and chaotic, deafeningly loud and eerily quiet.

The one thing the war is not, however, is finished, dozens of soldiers across the country said in interviews. And leaving Iraq now would have devastating consequences, they said

[…]

The soldiers declined to discuss the political jousting back home, but they expressed support for the Bush administration’s approach to the war, which they described as sticking with a tumultuous situation to give Iraq a chance to stand on its own.

[…]

Even if top commanders meet their goal of transferring authority to the Iraqi army within the next 18 months, a U.S. presence long after that is likely, several officers said.

“This is a worthwhile endeavor,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division. “Nothing that is worthwhile is usually easy, and we need to give this more time for it to all come together. We all want to come home, but we have a significant investment here, and we need to give the Iraqi army and the Iraqi people a chance to succeed.”

Go read the rest, it’s worth it.

It’s shocking that the Washington Post is publishing this now before the election.
If the Republicans retain their control of the House and the Senate, then we have a mandate on the war and I don’t want to hear anything more about how the American public doesn’t support the war because they will have demonstrated that they do. And don’t even try to say that the Republicans stole the election. They are not brilliant enough to pull that off.
(Link via Michelle Malkin)