Still at war in Iraq

"The war in Iraq is not over, madam."

Those are the words of Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of the coalition ground troops in Iraq, correcting a reporter last week who had asked how many U.S. soldiers had been injured "since the end of the war."

McKiernan's right. While the images of precision-guided bombs falling on Baghdad have faded and public interest has waned, the war continues.

Consider the casualties:

Last Monday, a soldier was killed and another wounded when a 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment convoy was attacked near Hadithah, a town about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attackers used small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Two soldiers were killed and nine wounded in Fallujah last Tuesday morning when they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms from someone firing from inside a mosque.

A soldier was killed Thursday by hostile fire while traveling on a main supply route northwest of Baghdad.

In fact, since heavy combat ceased, 55 soldiers have been killed, 15 by hostile fire. In other words, Iraq remains a dangerous place for American troops. It is a volatile country that still is very much at war.

The actions of the Pentagon support that fact. The Pentagon has put off plans to bring 150,000 troops stationed in Iraq back to the United States. The Pentagon also is not sure that it will be able to stick to its plan to have only 75,000 troops in the country by September.

While it may be disheartening to family members, some who have not seen their loved ones in nine months, maintaining appropriate troop strength in Iraq during the rebuilding process is probably a wise move. There is still much to be done. A U.S. presence is still needed there, especially considering that there are still weapons in the hands of people who support Saddam Hussein.

There is also a good deal of work to be done in establishing a civil authority in a post-Saddam Iraq.

But progress has been made on that front as well. Each week, more police cars are patrolling the streets, power is on a bit longer and more clean water is available to the Iraqi people.

This week, a team of U.N. nuclear safety experts will be headed back to Iraq to renew the search for chemical and biological weapons. Taking a bit of heat at home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair promises fresh evidence will soon be made public.

The world is also slowly coming on board. World leaders at the annual G-8 summit -- made up of the world's seven wealthiest countries and Russia -- this week finally pledged cooperation on terrorism and a coordinated effort to rebuild Iraq.

Among a host of other things, the group issued an action plan aimed at keeping portable surface-to-air missiles, capable of bringing down commercial jetliners, out of the hands of terrorists and also pledged greater efforts to halt the spread of nuclear, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction.

President George H.W. Bush was criticized by some for "not finishing what he started" in 1991. It would be difficult to make that claim against his son, the current president -- even if it means the war has to last a little longer.