Victory in the Desert?

Tom DeLay says that Iraq is no worse than Houston. "You know, if Houston, Texas, was held to the same standard as Iraq is held to, nobody'd go to Houston, because all this reporting coming out of the local press in Houston is violence, murders, robberies, deaths on the highways." Yes, I wonder how many vehicles with armed security guards it takes to get from the airport to your hotel in Houston.

Karl Zinsmeister, who just returned from one of several trips to Iraq declares victory:

What the establishment media covering Iraq have utterly failed to make clear today is this central reality: With the exception of periodic flare-ups in isolated corners, our struggle in Iraq as warfare is over. Egregious acts of terror will continue -- in Iraq as in many other parts of the world. But there is now no chance whatever of the U.S. losing this critical guerilla war.

Contrary to the impression given by most newspaper headlines, the United States has won the day in Iraq. In 2004, our military fought fierce battles in Najaf, Fallujah, and Sadr City. Many thousands of terrorists were killed, with comparatively little collateral damage. As examples of the very hardest sorts of urban combat, these will go down in history as smashing U.S. victories. (emphasis added)

Note Zinsmeister's qualification, "with the exception of periodic flare-ups in isolated corners." What exactly is Guerilla warfare anyway? I will believe what he says when the Bush administration cuts our troop strength there by a half or a third or a quarter, and a Baghdad cab ride becomes affordable.