There are a number of people who have come to regret their decision to support the 2003 liberation of Iraq from the murderous regime of Saddam Hussain , because the post-invasion planning was ill-thought out and badly executed. Others opposed the war from the outset, because they say they knew any invasion planned and executed by the Bush administration would be incompetent. But isn’t the real problem a failure to predict a vicious jihadist attempt to destabilise Iraq, and Iran’s mischievous meddling? Well to some extent, that is true but even if that point is granted US policies have some responsibility for failing to prevent the conditions which allowed such evils to grow.

However, even the dumbest of animals will learn if you keep poking it with a electric prod. And so it may be with the Bush administration. Perhaps the US finally has the correct strategy for creating a sustainable Iraqi state, and in the process, producing a situation where they can withdraw without leaving a bloodbath in their wake.

The surge may be working. Two left-leaning critics of Bush’s handling of Iraq have recently visited. This is their assessment:

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

Bush is looking certain to continue the surge with additional troops being deployed in the coming months. Just because Bush is involved, doesn’t mean it is doomed to failure. Of course, considerable difficulties remain, not least of which is a working Iraqi government, but views on Iraq should be based on realities - not on congealed opinions pickled in 2003 and fermented to a new flavour of despair.

If your view on Iraq is that the invasion was marred by the competence of its prosecution, then at least welcome the fact that the US have learned lessons and may, at long last, be on the right track. If they are, then resolve will be needed, I can see no reason why any rational progressive would oppose it.