Apparently, you reality-huggers have been so focused on facts and veracity that you missed the big news: we won the war in Iraq. In fact, the whole conflict is over.

We know this, of course, because Andrew Bolt, a conservative columnist in Australia, says so. In a piece today, Bolt proclaims, “The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.”

What measures of success do critics of Iraq’s liberation now demand? Violence is falling fast. Al Qaida has been crippled. The Shiites, Kurds and Marsh Arabs no longer face genocide. What’s more, the country has stayed unified. The majority now rules. Despite that, minority Sunni leaders are co-operating in government with Shiite ones. There is no civil war. The Kurds have not broken away. Iran has not turned Iraq into its puppet.

And the country’s institutions are getting stronger. The Iraqi army is now at full strength, at least in numbers. The country has a vigorous media. A democratic constitution has been adopted and backed by a popular vote. Election after election has Iraqis turning up in their millions....

I repeat: the battle for a free Iraq has been won.

It has? Then as Steve M. asks, can we leave now?