So how bad are things in Iraq?
Answer: not very. Fallujah is not the new Mogadishu, Muqtaba al-Sadr is not the new Ayatollah Khomeini and, despite what Ted Kennedy says, Iraq is not ”George Bush’s Vietnam.” Or even George Bush’s Chappaquiddick.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: The Pentagon’s demonstrated in two wars now that it’s got beyond Vietnam. If a politician or pundit can’t, pay him no further heed. If Sen. Kennedy wants to give rhetorical aid and comfort to the enemy, he could at least be less lazy about it.
Now here’s the more important question: Are the Iraqi people on the American side?
Answer: No. . . . That’s the point to remember: The Iraqi people don’t want to be on the American side, only on the winning side.
Read the whole thing, which offers some interesting insights from Steyn’s own visit to Fallujah, and some thoughts on what the coalition has been doing wrong.