We’ll do Tony a favor. We’ll ignore the fact that he’s been consistently wrong about this war, and everything to do with government policy, for the last seven years or so. Tony Blankley rode the neocon train and whooped out loud while we went into this war where there were no WMD, there was no Al Qaeda, there were no mass killings in the streets. We’ll forget for the moment that Tony Blankley was one of those predicting that the IRaqi people would welcome our soldiers with roses and smiles, not IEDs and RPGs. We’ll instead hope Tony Blankley is correct, for once in the last seven years, that we’ll have parades next year as our troops come home from Iraq, swelled with pride that they have been victorious in the first battle against global terror.

Yeah right. Here’s Tony Blankley, Heritage Foundation shill and Edelman International Executive, blowing smoke up some more Republican skirts. His latest wet dream couldn’t have appeared anywhere else than the Washington Times.

It has become obligatory for both pro- and antiwar commentators to never mention the possibility of victory in Iraq. The most that antiwar people will admit is that the surge has gained a temporary military advantage in a war that cannot be won militarily. The most pro-war commentators will claim is that they see the possibility of “success” perhaps, maybe, someday, somehow.

But as of Veterans Day 2007, I think one can claim a very real expectation that next year the world may see a genuine, old-fashioned victory in the Iraq War. In five years we will have overturned Saddam’s government, killed, captured or driven out of country almost all al Qaeda terrorists, suppressed the violent Shi’ite militias and induced the Sunni tribal leaders and their people to shun resistance and send their sons into the army and police and seek peaceful resolution of disputes. And we will have stood up a multisectarian, tribally inclusive army capable of maintaining the peace that our troops established.

Before commiting Tony Blankley to some asylum or something, I’ll put all this down to premature celebrating, akin to those football players who start to go into their touchdown dances about five yeards too early. Yes, those football players look exceedingly foolish, and we make fun of them. We often say, “act like you’ve been there before,” meaning the end zone. So it’s time to shut Tony Blankley up a bit.

There will be no “victory” in Iraq next year, and certainly no “genuine, old-fashioned victory,” as Tony claims. Such dreams are the ravings of a fevered neocon mind. Sure, we may make gains in Iraq. But we must not ignore the costs. Tony Blankley goes further than most neocon warmongers in noting that we’ve lost many soldiers. OK, he doesn’t note the tens of thousands of severely injured US soldiers, and Blankley doesn’t mention the thousands upon thousands of cases of PTSD. Tony’s war is instead worth it because the eight year old brother of one of the dead soldiers wants to go and avenge his brother. That line alone disgusts me.

After the formal ceremonies, as we were chatting with people, I had a conversation with a former Marine. He was there with his eight-year-old son. He explained that his 21-year-old — the oldest of his four sons — had been killed in combat in Iraq just a couple of months ago.

He showed us a picture of his fallen son. He was a good-looking, open-faced kid with a winning grin leaning out of his armored vehicle. He died leading his men to the sound of the guns. He is now buried there in that central Texas veteran’s cemetery where last Sunday a hard wind blew, snapping the many Old Glories that stood sentry for our fallen warriors. And the eight-year-old — who idolized his fallen big brother — can hardly wait to be old enough to join up to finish his brother’s job.

Let’s be as clear as possible here. Tony Blankley may be a very successful ececutive for the global PR firm Edelman International. As such, he probably knows how to effectively blow smoke up the skirts of lots of folks, and sell, sell, sell. He’s trying to sell us on victory here, and he’s using a grieving eight year old boy to do so. What he’s saying, and the Republicans will eat this up, is that if an eight year old boy can understand the importance of victory, then we should all understand it. Why does he use an eight year old boy to make his point? Because Tony Blankley cannot seriously sell a “genuine old-fashioned victory” without resorting to using an eight year old.

Listen, Tony, no matter whether we have successes in Iraq, our troops will not be coming home in 2008. Bush won’t let that happen, and given the complete mess that Bush has created over there, I probably wouldn’t be behind such a move. But it isn’t a victory until our soldiers start coming home. And, hey, in those old-fashioned victories Tony, there’s an armistice, a treaty. Yeah, Tony, like the one signed on Veterans Day, those many years ago. Did you FORGET? There’s nobody to SIGN a treaty now, nor two sides to bring to the bargaining table, you fool!

Tony may be able, someday, to ignore the damage we have done to our force structure by invading Iraq. Tony Blankley may be able to ignore the hundred thousand or so dead people who have fallen on the streets of Iraq as a direct result of George Bush’s invasion. Tony Blankley may be able to ignore the thousands of orphans, the destroyed buldings and infrastructure, the injured and maimed Iraqi citizens. I cannot. And these are the very real costs to victory, to say nothing of the diminishment of the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world. Tony Blankley helped lead this nation into these ugly and disastrous policy decisions. He thinks there will be victory over there, and I think he’s nuts.