Would have never happened had Democrats like Barack Obama had their way to retreat from Iraq.

“BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 — The walls of the majestic Republican Palace in Baghdad’s Green Zone have been stripped bare. The vaults that secured American cash and classified documents are gone, and the cement blast walls that protected the front entrance were taken down this week. The U.S. military dining facility inside what was once the American Embassy served its last meal New Year’s Eve.

“This is the end of the world as we know it,” said Sgt. 1st Class Patrick McDonald, 47, who co-authored a guide to historic sites in the Green Zone. “It’s not like everyone is shredding documents and fleeing Saigon. But we are stepping away from a building.

Saddam Hussein had the palace compound’s main building decorated with giant busts of himself to demonstrate his hold over Iraq. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the palace came to symbolize the American role in the country, first as the headquarters of the U.S. occupation authority and later the U.S. Embassy. American civilians and troops held “salsa night” dances around the pool behind the palace before retiring to trailers sheathed in sandbags.

When the clock struck midnight on Wednesday, the U.S. returned the palace to the Iraqi government and relinquished formal control over the Green Zone, a heavily fortified six-square-mile enclave on the Tigris River where key U.S. and Iraqi bureaucracies are situated.

The handover is a sign of the shrinking footprint and influence of the United States in a country where it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars. For many Iraqis, the handover represents a significant step forward in their gradual reassertion of dominion over their own affairs. “

Of course we could expect the writers at the Washington Compost to paint this as a release from tyranny, and the end of a failed effort. That is again dishonest and disnorable to the sacrifice of our troops. Had it not been for their efforts there would be no such “liberation”. The war was a success and nothing can change that fact.

Sgt. McDonald mentions that shameful day in Saigon when the US completed a retreat from the approaching communist north, precipitated by Democrats pulling the funding for the war their party began. Democrats tried to do that again in 2007 but were rebuffed. No doubt they’ll now take false credit for this abounding success now, but we know who deserves the thanks. That would be President Bush, General Patraeus and the men and women of our military.

Gateway Pundit with more.