While covering former Rep. Duncan Hunter Sr. for Newsweek, I found him to be intelligent, affable and unafraid to debate his political opponents. However, the hawkish Hunter is likely to encounter substantial opposition to his brand new book, "Victory in Iraq: How America Won." In the book, Hunter, whose son replaced him in Congress (I also covered the son for Newsweek), says our troops deserve to be thanked for their service and declares that we won the war, period.
Our men and women who served in Iraq (and continue to serve there) of course deserve our thanks. And there is certainly some merit to the argument that we "won" in Iraq (especially if you think we were there primarily to get rid of Saddam Hussein). But there are also arguments against Hunter's declaration, namely that fact that we still have some 50,000 troops in that country and that it remains a highly volatile region with an uncertain future. More than 4,400 American men and women died in Iraq. Was it worth it?
The book, which you can order here, is just off the presses, but the arguments about its declarations are already beginning to simmer online.
On the crooks and liars blog, JHR1956 writes:
But on Amazon.com, Alex M. writes:
