President Bush has been preaching that “it is better to fight them in Iraq than in the streets of Manhattan” and “the best defense is a robust offense.” His message has not gained traction with the American people. The latest USA Today/Gallup Poll shows an increase in the number of people who believe that the troop ‘surge’ is working. But 57% still believe that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

In the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, taken Friday through Sunday, the proportion of those who said the additional troops are “making the situation better” rose to 31% from 22% a month ago. Those who said it was “not making much difference” dropped to 41% from 51%.

In the July survey, a record high of 62% had called the invasion of Iraq “a mistake.” That view is now held by 57%, roughly where it’s been for more than a year.

Public perceptions reflect reality. In Iraq and Afghanistan, smart Generals are planning meticulously and brave soldiers are executing flawlessly. American troops are inflicting serious damage on the enemy. Left to their own devices the Military will win the battles, eventually. Even Associated ‘with terrorists’ Press admits that the ‘Military Shows Gains in Iraq‘.

The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working.

In two weeks of observing the U.S. military on the ground and interviewing commanders, strategists and intelligence officers, it’s apparent that the war has entered a new phase in its fifth year.

It is a phase with fresh promise yet the same old worry: Iraq may be too fractured to make whole.

No matter how well or how long the U.S. military carries out its counterinsurgency mission, it cannot guarantee victory.

Only the Iraqis can. And to do so they probably need many more months of heavy U.S. military involvement. Even then, it is far from certain that they are capable of putting this shattered country together again.

It’s been an uphill struggle from the start to build Iraqi security forces that are able to fight and more importantly at this juncture able to divorce themselves from deep-rooted sectarian loyalties. It is the latter requirement evenhandedness and reliability that is furthest from being fulfilled.

There is no magic formula for success.

And magic is what it may take to turn military gains into the strategy’s ultimate goal: a political process that moves Iraq’s rival Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds from the brink of civil war to the threshold of peace and to get there on a timetable that takes account of growing war fatigue in the United States.

If you are not familiar with AP jargon let us translate. US troops are kicking butt in Iraq. AP is not happy with potential American victories and possible credit to Bush. What is AP to do? Move the goal posts, of course! Hence forth victory will mean a political arrangement that forces Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds to love each other. AP hopes that before a grand sectarian reconciliation happens, the American people’s growing war fatigue will force Bush to pull out.

Unfortunately, the American people are also correct in their assessment that something went wrong in Iraq. Sending the troops and destroying the country was a brilliant move. Rebuilding it was a huge mistake. All you need to teach savages, who behead Jews and Christians for fun, is that you can and will break things. They don’t need to know that you have a sensitive side. And the cost, oh the cost! A hundred billion here and a hundred billion there; soon you are talking real money.

Maybe because of the Bush family ties to the Saudi Royals, the President has failed to grasp that there is very little daylight between Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda. Who but a totally blind man would fail to see that the war is not being fought only in the Middle East? Sure, America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. But the Saudis invaded Europe, Virginia, New Jersey, and Dearborn. America sent troops to Bagdad. Saudi Arabia sent airplane Jihadis to Manhattan and “Preachers of Hate” to Main Street. Europe will be Dar al-Islam (land of Islam) by 2050. How long will America last after that?

As Mark Steyn says in One Way Multiculturalism:

We’ve gotten used to one-way multiculturalism: the world accepts that you can’t open an Episcopal or Congregational church in Jeddah or Riyadh but every week the Saudis can open radical mosques and madrasas and pro-Saudi think-tanks in London and Toronto and Dearborn, Michigan and Falls Church, Virginia. And their global reach extends a little further day by day, inch by inch, in the lengthening shadows, as the lights go out one by one around the world.

Hopefully, the next President will understand that the Saudis are not our friends. That Islam is not a religion of peace. That not fighting them over there is inexcusable, but not fighting them in the mosques over here is suicidal.