We win. So, like, where's our prize?

From the frequently incisive snark of Military.com's Jeff Huber:

Like her prospective boss John McCain, Sarah speaks of "victory" in Iraq as if such a thing could be conjured.

Here's what would qualify as a victory in Iraq: Saddam Hussein meets young Mr. Bush on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, and sits at a table in front of the ship's island, under the sign that says "Mission Accomplished," and writes his name on a bunch of papers that say the U.S. can establish permanent military bases in his country and take all the oil there and our soldiers and mercenaries and civilian contractors can pull any kind of shenanigans they want in Iraq and the puppet Iraqi government we set up can't do anything about it.

Unfortunately, that can't happen because Saddam Hussein is dead. Too bad none of the war experts at neocon central thought about needing somebody to surrender to us when we went off half-cocked and did that regime change stuff. Or maybe somebody at neocon central did think of that and didn't say anything. Too bad either way, huh?

I thought of this a long time ago. Was the assumption that without Saddam in his palace--without him breathing, for that matter--armed Iraqi resistance would just take a long nap? That everyone would fall behind a government that the Sunnis still don't trust? The neocons started drawing up Iraq invasion plans basically as soon as Poppy Bush pulled out the first time. That didn't make the plans good.