<All I've read in the news is how little control we have over the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that they are harboring terrorists. Why are we talking about Iraq??! What the hell does Iraq have to do with anything?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Afghanistan is already up to its ass in U.S. military forces, which are currently doing the hard scutwork required to scrape the last vestiges of the enemy out of that country. The government has already been replaced by U.S. military action. You have read a lot about terrorists in the news because the media wants this effort to fail. Little of the opposition mentioned in the media is significant.

If we ever get to this point in Iraq, we will be talking progress. With Iraq, it may be even easier, since the opposition there is a lot more centralized.