According former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, it is impossible for the US to achieve military victory in Iraq. Is he right?

The answer to this questions depends on your definition of military victory. If it is the goal of the United States to develop of strong indigenous Iraqi security capability, with sufficient resources and resolve to tackle the threat from Islamic extremists, while no longer relying on the military capabilities of the US military, then the answer is yes, military victory is most certainly possible.

If victory is defined by whether or not the US can completely pacify Iraq and destroy the Islamic insurgents, then Dr. Kissinger’s assessment is 100% accurate. There simply is no way the US military can win a war of attrition against an enemy who places no value on human life, as our enemies due. Even with resources and technological prowess of the US, the American people have not nor will they stand for a grueling decades long war to wear down an extremist enemy.

At this point the Bush Administration and our military commanders should focus their energies and making way for a successful transition of power and security responsibilities in Iraq. Far too much money has been spent propping up the Iraqi government, with no hope of repayment (regardless of those assertions to the contrary). The Iraqi government must now either take responsibility for their own security or fall to the insurgents, but we cannot expect to US to remain in Iraq indefinitely as they did in Germany and Japan.
Link to Washington Post article