2007...

...Was "the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed." A slightly less deadly Fall (if compared to the spring, not to previous points in the war) was a small consolation to some-- mostly American politicians and pundits-- though maybe not to the families of those 899.

It should be remembered that, during the 2006 campaign, defenders of the war insisted that withdrawals were imminent and that war would be virtually over by the end of 2007. Instead, they decided to escalate it instead, and have simply grown increasingly vague in their language of when they expect a conclusion. Funny how that turned out.

One such defender-- James Carafano, a 'security expert' with the right-wing Heritage Foundation think-tank-- said that "the surge made that statement to Iraqis... a reaffirmation that Americans aren't going to walk away from this." He didn't add 'ever', but he didn't need to. It was implied. War forever!

As long as the media keeps ignoring all of this, the more distant the/any end will be.