I don't want President Bush or our military to declare Operation Iraqi Freedom won yet. There's no need to do so yet and there are a couple of reasons we shouldn't do so, in my opinion.

FIrst of all, under the Geneva Convention, our obligations as the winners of an armed conflict become quite different than exist while hostilities continue. One needs only listen to the sounds of gunfire in the background as reporters do stand up reports from Baghdad to know that there remains much to do there. Until Hussein and his murderous henchmen and sons are captured, we would have legal leeway to protect our troops that would be denied to us were we to declare "victory."

The other reason I don't want us to declare "victory" yet is even more important to me and is simple and easily understood. I want the conflict to last 45 days or more. That would mean that Hussein's Iraqi military withstood our military forces at least one day longer than the French withstood the forces of Germany in either World War. If Jacques Chirac wants to be a tinhorn, let's demonstrate to the world just how much of one he and the French people truly are. Even Saddam's army was more cable than they have ever been. Remember, the French military haven't won a single battle they have been involved in dating back to Waterloo.