Who said anything about victory?
I think the best thing we can hope for is a quasi-stable Iraq whose sectarian violence and civil war never exceeds a certain flashpoint while it burns itself out over the next 20 years. But during those 20 years, we will be there in troop amounts probably comparable to our current day commitment.
Don't fool yourself- there has been little to no political progress in Iraq. Ethnic cleansing continues at a low level, the country continues to separate, the Kurdish question still remains salient and open. The Shi'a continue to be pulled into the orbit of Iran.
Its still a cluster fu$%- just because the mantra 'the surge is working' is the news dujour does not mean that it is.
Yeti