Reid Claims 'War is Lost' Comment Helped Turn Effort Toward Victory

As a service to all Americans, allow me to remind you all of Sen. Harry Reid’s infamous pronouncement in 2007:

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Now, in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sen. Reid makes an unbelievable new claim:

At the time Sen. Reid made this comment, President Bush had been pursuing a failed, stay-the-course strategy that had cost thousands of American lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. Iraq appeared to be on the verge of a sectarian civil war. He was simply pointing out what our military leaders, including Gen. Petraeus, had been saying for months: that we could not win by staying the course; the war needed to be won diplomatically, politically, and economically. Sen. Reid and his colleagues were successful in forcing President Bush to finally abandon his failed approach and refocus on political reconciliation. This is what ultimately paved the way for the Iraqi government to take greater responsibility for Iraq’s future. Sen. Reid’s comments were directed at President Bush and his following of misguided policymakers, not at the heroic troops who continue to serve our country with incredible courage.

As Sherman Frederick of the Las Vega Review-Journal puts it:

Asked about his 2007 comment in which he proclaimed “This war is lost” while our soldiers were still in Iraq getting their heads shot at and before the so-called “surge” even had begun, Reid today said that his statement was actually a “successful” ploy to force President Bush to refocus on political reconciliation.

The undeniable fact is Sen. Reid called it wrong on Iraq. He undercut our troops in the process. Bush called it right. The “surge” worked and it (not Sen. Reid’s “This war is lost” statement) made today possible. That’s the unvarnished truth and no amount of revisionist sophistry will change it.