Who's Stuck In Iraq's Quagmire?

Jack Kelly is one of my favorite columnists; clear-headed, supportive of our troops and the War on Terror, and a no-BS critic of those who don't understand life in the post-9/11 world. So imagine my surprise at this lead to his column today:

We're floundering in a quagmire in Iraq. Our strategy is flawed, and it's too late to change it. Our resources have been squandered, our best people killed, we're hated by the natives and our reputation around the world is circling the drain. We must withdraw.

Rest assured; it's just evidence of Kelly's skills as a journalist, not of his turning against the mission.

No, I'm not channeling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I'm channeling Osama bin Laden, for whom the war in Iraq has been a catastrophe.

The evidence is clear for the clear-eyed:

Al-Qaida is evacuating populated areas and is trying to establish hideouts in the Hamrin mountains in northern Iraq, with U.S. and Iraqi security forces, and former insurgent allies who have turned on them, in hot pursuit. Forty-five al-Qaida leaders were killed or captured in October alone.

Al-Qaida's support in the Muslim world has plummeted, partly because of the terror group's lack of success in Iraq, more because al-Qaida's attacks have mostly killed Muslim civilians.

Meanwhile, at the mis-named AmericaBlog, we find the D-featist attitude continues unquelled by hard facts and changed circumstances:

Oh how he’s [sic, referring to Bush, not Bush's] loves to beat that drum over and over again… the troops, the troops, the troops. As if the only way to support them is to provide Bush with the sufficient funds to continue getting them killed for his delusional plan for Iraq.

Al-Qaeda and the Muslim world can read the writing on the wall, but the American Left cannot. Delusional? Please explain, and please offer a better alternative.

Of course, the Left cannot explain and cannot offer a viable alternative ... because they are stuck in a Bush-hatred quagmire.

hat-tip: memeorandum