The Iraq War was an absolute disaster.

A historic mistake.

That's probably what most Americans, not to mention most people around the world, would say.

But is it true?

President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 is subject to fair debate.

But it's important to recall that at the time the war had overwhelming bipartisan support

in the House and Senate. Dozens of allied countries joined the coalition.

That support, however, quickly faded as casualties mounted and the war started to bog down.

Criticism then turned to blame when the weapons of mass destruction that were expected to be found

were not. Nothing seemed to be going right.

I know. I was there, serving as a lieutenant in the United States Army.

As 2007 dawn, President Bush faced a near total collapse in both public and political support

for the war. He had to make an impossibly difficult decision.

Except strategic defeat and leave Iraq and chaos, or send even more troops into battle.

He chose the latter, a decision that came to be known as the surge.

The Democrats predicted disaster. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader at the time, said,

this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.

Senators Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton agreed. They were all wrong.

Led by General David Patreus and supplemented by 30,000 additional troops, American forces and

their Iraqi counterparts reversed the course of the war. It was one of the most stunning and

successful turnabouts in modern military history. In 2008, I returned to the country to see for

myself. I had seen the before I could hardly believe the after. Attacks on US forces were down

...