Government Brainiacs In Action

I think this may be one of the stupider policy considerations I've heard yet:

The Washington Post leads with word that a debate has broken out among U.S. officials on whether victory should be declared over al-Qaida in Iraq. Some in the U.S. military are advocating the move, saying al-Qaida in Iraq has been so badly decimated in recent months that there's little chance it could stage a comeback, but others warn the move might be premature and caution against making assumptions about a group that has "shown great resilience in the past."

Perhaps it's just an excuse to put pressure on the administration to leave Iraq. But to actually consider having "won" against al Qaeda is like declaring a victory over ants. The only way al Qaeda is beat is if 1) they lose popular support and 2) if major powers stop giving them so much credibility with attention. It's legitimately estimated that the numbers of these "terrarist" is in the hundreds, likely less than the number of mafia in the U.S. This notion of "declaring victory" is just so much policy posturing nonsense.