It seems like those who have so gleefully pointed to a perceived failure of American foreign policy in the Middle East have begun to spin themselves into rut. Regardless of the mainstream media’s unwillingness to paint a more accurate picture of the situation in Iraq, the long-term story of America’s involvement in the region will eventually be sorted out. Victor Davis Hanson brings some perspective:

In 24 months the United States defeated two of the most hideous regimes in modern memory. For all the sorrow involved, it has already made progress in the unthinkable: bringing consensual government into the heart of Middle Eastern autocracy, where there has been no political heritage other than tyranny, theocracy, and dictatorship.

In liberating 50 million people from both the Taliban and Saddam Hussein it has lost so far less than 500 soldiers — some of whom were killed precisely because they waged a war that sought to minimalize not just civilian casualties but even the killing of their enemies.