Is the Iraq War Lost?

No Many said Anbar province was "lost" six months ago. Today, local tribes are cooperating with us to fight al-Qaeda. Iraqis, with our help, are confronting the sectarian violence in Baghdad, seeking to take back their capital so they can pursue political reconciliation.

-- Stephen J. Hadley, national security adviser

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Yes This dilemma is agonizingly like Vietnam. Once a majority of Americans understood that we could not win (short of the outright conquest of North Vietnam), we struggled to find ways to leave. Our departure did not undermine but enhanced our national security.

-- Robert Dallek, presidential historian

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No The war is not lost -- no more than it was in winter 1776, July 1864, December 1945 or November 1950. The challenge is winning back hearts and minds at home, rather than in Iraq, where brave thousands join us each day to fight an evil sort the likes of which we haven't seen in recent memory.

-- Victor Davis Hanson, military historian, Hoover Institution