We won in Iraq

I've been deployed to Iraq since September last year.

We won, and we did it with a straight cut victory. The vast majority of the time, it feels, smells, sounds and looks like peace time. There are the occasional mortar fires, gunshots, etc, to remind you that it's dangerous out there still. But, it's not like what you'd see in the news.

The Iraqi military has taken over security in our area, they man the checkpoints, and their police are on the ball in going after crime. Their justice system is administering justice. The Iraqis are going about their lives.

They're also westernizing.

Our ballistic eye-wear has became the "in" sunglasses for the Iraqis. Cell phone use is widespread out here. Iraq is becoming more commercialized. Many Iraqi cities are westernizing. Baghdad is a completely new world than what it was under Saddam.

Iraq is developing democratically and economically.

Look around, and you'd very easily forget that this country was the "quagmire" of the news media. War? What War? We won it with a straight cut victory.