Current measure of victory hardly resembles standard of 4 years ago
By Eric Rosenberg
Hearst Newspapers
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.20.2007
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's definition of success in Iraq has changed drastically since the March 2003 invasion, and the current measure of victory hardly resembles the standard promulgated four years ago.
Back then, the U.S. defined success as finding and destroying Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, installing a democratic, pro-U.S. government to serve as a model for despotic Arab states and rooting out any terrorists who may have found safe haven there under Saddam's rule.
Starting with the embarrassing discovery that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi realities have forced the Bush administration to redefine its standards of success.
The U.S.-led invasion has also triggered a tenacious insurgency that is attracting Islamic militants from around the world. And the administration is desperately trying to bolster the U.S.-backed Baghdad government to become more effective in fighting insurgents and to take steps to reconcile competing ethnic factions.
Against this background, Bush administration officials now define success in far more diminished terms.
The following is an outline of the administration's evolving definition of success:
More:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/183865.php