Blogoland

Even if Iraq became a terror-factory that exports nuclear warheads to, say, Iran, I have a feeling the Power Line guys will still find it all a smashing success:

It is still possible that we could fail in Iraq, but we certainly haven't failed yet. The key moments will arrive on the first couple of occasions when that country makes a peaceful transition from one elected government to another. If the Iraqis make those transitions successfully, we will be able, I think, to label our policy in that country a success. Even if they don't, and an authoritarian regime ultimately controls the country, it could still be a vast improvement on the virulently anti-American and pro-terrorist Saddam Hussein.

See? Even if we wind up with a theocratic, authoritarian near-failed state plunged in civil war, it'll still be a grand victory, and America will be much safer for it.