Is this humor? No. It is an example of the total denial of reality. The American Enterprise Institute has declared victory in Iraq with an article titled ‘The War is Over, and We Won.’

Right. Here’s a snip:

“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.”

Funny. The generals don’t seem to think so. “I think the more accurate way to approach this right now is to concede that this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists and the terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military options or military operations,” Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, chief American military spokesman in Iraq, said last week. “It’s going to be settled in the political process.” In other words, there are no more viable military options. The war is lost.

AEI is the wellspring from whence the Project for the New American Century sprung. We see in Washington the delusions of Bush and his people regarding this occupation, the utter inability to face the truths on the ground there. It is people like the author of the above AEI essay that keep George in his bubble of ignorance, and who make sure the dying continues.

1,728 American soldiers are dead. The New York Times reports that Iraqi fighters have refined their bomb-making skills. “American casualties from bomb attacks in Iraq have reached new heights in the last two months as insurgents have begun to deploy devices that leave armored vehicles increasingly vulnerable,” reports the Times. “Last month there were about 700 attacks against American forces using so-called improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, the highest number since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the American military command in Iraq and a senior Pentagon military official. Attacks on Iraqis also reached unprecedented levels, Lt. Gen. John Vines, a senior American ground commander in Iraq, told reporters on Tuesday.”

But the war is over, and we won. Or something.