Victory Strategy Held Up As Triumph

US President George W. Bush (Ret.) formally unveiled the "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," 2 years after the war was declared over.

The book begins by defining "victory" and declaring "victory in Iraq is a vital U.S. interest." Strategy is discussed in detail in the text, which concludes with a discussion of eight "Strategic Pillars" of policy and conditions for "victory."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised the work as a "triumph of the printer's art," saying "this would have been an excellent resource to have" in March 2003, when the war began. "Unfortunately," he added, "one sometimes has to go to war with the book one has," referring to the bestseller "Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Film Book, Volume 1," (published February 2003) which was his reading material at the time. He did concede that he had been privy to early drafts of some sections as recently as last year.

The publication of the document was timed by its publishers, the Government Printing Office, to coincide with a rerelease of the "National Strategy for Victory in Viet Nam" (originally published 1985) and the "National Strategy for Recovery from the Unfortunate Events of October 19, 1929," (originally published 1944).