[Mr. Kagan is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Ms. Kagan is president of the Institute for the Study of War. Mr. Keane is a former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army. All have just returned from their most recent visit to Iraq.]

All of the most important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq. The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has accomplished almost all of the legislative benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration. More important, it is gaining wider legitimacy among the population. The attention of Iraqis across the country is focused on the upcoming provincial elections, which will be a pivotal moment in Iraq's development.

The result is that we have an extraordinary – but fleeting – opportunity to advance America's security and the stability of a vital region of the world.

As far as the civil war is concerned, there have been virtually no sectarian killings recorded for the past 10 weeks. Violence is still perpetrated by organized groups, but AQI, the remnant Sunni insurgents and Shiite fighters are now focused on attacking their own members who have defected to our side. This is a measure of their weakness. The Iraqi population is increasingly mobilizing against the perpetrators of violence, flooding American and Iraqi forces with tips about the locations of weapons caches and key militant leaders – Sunnis turning in Sunnis and Shia turning in Shia....

The blunt fact is this. In Iraq, al Qaeda is on the ropes, and the Shiite militias are badly off-balance. Now is exactly the time to continue the pressure to keep them from regaining their equilibrium. It need not, and probably will not, require large numbers of American casualties to keep this pressure on. But it will require a considerable number of American troops through 2009.

Recent suggestions in Washington that reductions could begin sooner or proceed more rapidly are premature. The current force levels will be needed through the Iraqi provincial elections later this year, and consideration of force reductions makes sense only after those elections are over and the incoming commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, has evaluated the new situation.

The benefits to the U.S. from seeing the fight through to the end far outweigh the likely costs. For one thing, Iraqis have shown their determination to increase their oil output, currently averaging 2.5 million barrels a day, as fast as they can – something that can only happen if their country is secure.

Far more important is the opportunity in our hands today to work with a Muslim country in the heart of the Arab world to inflict the most visible and humiliating defeat possible on al Qaeda. Success in Iraq also makes it possible to establish a strategic partnership with a legitimate, democratic majority-Shia state that is aligned with the U.S. against Iran....

John Edward Philips - 7/25/2008

getting back to where we were before we invaded. This was has made things worse for US national interests at the cost of thousands of American lives and how many Iraqi lives. Not ridiculous, that would imply something to be laughed at. Just pathetic.

Randll Reese Besch - 7/20/2008

Iran has been called the 'peacemaker' and 'stabilizing influence' in the Middle East not the belligerent and invasive USA. There is good reason for that! The corporate propaganda mill (CMSM) supports and maintains the lie that Iran is any kind of a threat while the USA's blatant war crime is teated as anything but benign. One can't have a victory of a crime and be positive. Just ask the Manchurians and Poles about that.

This whole idea of a 'preventive war' and 'unitary executive' are just euphemisms for invasion and dictatorship. Till we recognize that and put a stop to it our days of freedom are numbered till the next disaster or 'terrorist attack' comes to clamp down on our freedoms some more.

Arnold Shcherban - 7/19/2008

is death, destruction, and poverty for millions of Iraqis.
There is really no bottom for moral and professional fall of some so-called historians.

Raul A Garcia - 7/19/2008

Granted that a marked reduction in insurgency is a fact, but it still persists. Afghanistan has resurged as an Islamist surge there is a fact. The Iraq-Iran border is still too porous and the tactical assistance is still conveyed through there to Iraq. Finally some diplomatic overtures are being made, and must be made with Iran, or we shall see another war. A carrot approach worked with Libya and may induce Iran to modify its aggressive stance. We must use every method other than belligerency to realize some stability.

Lisa Kazmier - 7/18/2008

This is victory? Where's democracy? How is this different than what existed before this cluster---- started? That is, didn't Iraq as it was actually contain Iran?

Almost all of the benchmarks? Were we born yesterday? It's more like less than half and maybe 1/3 at best. Where is political stability. Just because they say the "surge" is working or has worked (it being over is a misnomer),

Why is HNN printing this propaganda as if it were fact?