We most definitely shouldn’t quit on Iraq now, Trig; the hard and bloody part’s done - that is, as long as we remain for a while to keep the jihadi vampire safely staked in its coffin till we can safely hand over the hammer.

I don’t wanna see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory simply because of emotional fatigue. That’s what happened to us after Tet (which was a resounding military victory for us) in Vietnam, and we’re STILL paying for it in national confidence and assertiveness, just like Russia’s still paying for Afghanistan (it, Reagan’s assertiveness with the Pershing missiles and SDI, and the Warsaw Pact union movement led to the collapse of the Soviet Union). But, for good or for ill (in his case ill), Putin can force things on Russia that no American president can force on America.