over. and out.

Republicans are up in arms because Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) says the war is lost. Can't anybody get this straight? Yes, Reid is wrong, but so are Republicans. So, for the record, here's the answer:

We won the war four years ago. It's the nation-building we lost.

War is the exertion of political will of one government upon another. U.S. Armed Forces performed with skill, precision and heroism. Credit where credit is due: Rummy and company won the war in 2003.

It was President's high-minded optimism — and total disregard for history — that got us into this mess. Consider what a democratically-based Iraqi government needs to overcome: Sunnis and Shiites have been at each other since nearly the very beginning of Islam; citizens with no practical understanding of open and free government; almost no independent institutions binding the country; meddlesome neighbors — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Al Qayda — looking to expand influence; those Kurds waiting to raise their own flag.

Granted, creating a more stable and secure Iraq would have helped matters at the outset of occupation, but can we truly expect the U.S. Army to mediate all that even under the best of circumstances?

If stability is victory in Iraq, we could have it relatively swiftly — we find another Saddam, equip and fund him, then look the other way. Not that I'm advocating that. A thug, even if he's our thug, is still a thug. What we need to do is accept the fact that Iraq is going to be a mess for a long, long time and that it will be up to Iraqis to figure it out from here.

Sorry, Secretary Powell, but the Pottery Barn rule is dead. We broke, but someone else is going to pay for it.