William Buckley says we lost

During the Viet Nam war it is said that the military victory was declared a loss when Walter Cronkite said we had lost. I wonder now if the Iraq war will be a failure because William Buckley says it is. Here is an essay by one of my most respected intellectuals. A sample is given below.

Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. The great human reserves that call for civil life haven't proved strong enough. No doubt they are latently there, but they have not been able to contend against the ice men who move about in the shadows with bombs and grenades and pistols.

The Iraqis we hear about are first indignant, and then infuriated, that Americans aren't on the scene to protect them and to punish the aggressors. And so they join the clothing merchant who says that everything is the fault of the Americans.