Opinion (Chuck Raasch): A Tet moment has arrived in Iraq

WASHINGTON — There came a moment during the Vietnam War — the Tet Offensive of 1968 — when many Americans concluded that the outcome no longer depended upon battlefield victories.

It is now clear that many, if not most, Americans have reached the same conclusion on Iraq. In essence, 2006 has been Tet Revisited in Iraq — where Americans prevail in combat but are still no closer to winning the war. As the year closes, American troops are continued targets of insurgents, terrorists and outlaws in a country where a fledgling democracy is too weak to either govern or protect its own people.

The American involvement in Vietnam continued long after the Tet reality. It is unclear whether the new Iraq reality will force substantive, immediate changes in U.S. policy or a stalemate between the Bush administration and the new Democratic majority in Congress leading into the next presidential election in two years.

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