Is the Iraq War Lost?

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a political firestorm recently when he said that "this war is lost," and a Washington-ABC News poll released two weeks ago reported that 53 percent of those asked said the United States is losing . Outlook asked some key figures in the Iraq debate whether Reid is right.

Yes As long as we see Iraq as ours to win or lose, confuse military victory with Iraqi legitimacy, build walls in the middle of the night, play whack-a-mole with province-hopping insurgents and jihadis, and deny space to the political center, then we lose.

-- Barbara K. Bodine, a former ambassador and a coordinator

for post-conflict reconstruction for Baghdad and central Iraq in 2003

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No There has been a dramatic decrease in sectarian violence; the situation in Anbar province and within the Sunni community in general has been transformed; the Maliki government has been incredibly supportive of efforts to go after Shiite militiamen. But it's going to be a long, hard slog.

-- Frederick W. Kagan, American Enterprise Institute;

proponent of the recent surge