Baghdad - no longer attacking, now defending

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The major story of the past day has been the apparent control of Baghdad taken by U.S. and coalition forces. The major question that has lingered since and even before the war started was "When will it end?" I'm not sure that question can be answered - it's not like a cease-fire or treaty is going to be signed and all the troops will go home. Even Baghdad is still "an ugly place" according to Major General Renuart at Central Command. So while the "end" of the war is a bit fuzzy, I think what we saw yesterday was an important shift from attacking Baghdad to defending Baghdad. That's certainly the feeling I get when I see the reports from the Iraqi capitol, and that seems to be the shift evident in the rhetoric from the administration. Now I think people need to be patient - I have a hard time imagining a day as significant as yesterday until Iraq holds its first democratic election, and that will be a relatively long way off. There will be good and bad days inbetween, but fortunately it looks like more good days than bad.

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