Kagan Iraq Update

clipped from online.wsj.com Recent comments by some Iraqi leaders about the current negotiations for a status-of-force agreement -- made in the context of an increasingly heated election season in Iraq, and with the desire to improve Iraq's bargaining position in the negotiations -- do not call the U.S. partnership into question. As we recently found in Baghdad, even the most outspoken advocates of rapid American force reductions strongly insist on a strategic partnership with America that helps Iraq stand up to Iran. Most of Iraq's military leaders are unequivocal about the need for a continued U.S. force presence. The Iraqi government and people -- whose surging anti-Persian feeling is more obvious every day -- have already shown their willingness to push back against Iranian intervention. victory in war is never certain until the war is over, the odds are strongly with us for once -- provided we do the right thing. That is to stand by our best ally in the war against al Qaeda, and the struggle to contain Iran.