There's Winning, and Then There's Winning

This morning:

Asked by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, whether "you believe we're currently winning in Iraq," Gates answered, "No, sir." He repeated the assessment when asked the same question by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Which ran opposite to this statement by Dear Leader:

Gates's view contradicted the appraisal publicly stated by Bush in an Oct. 25 news conference, when he said in response to a question, "Absolutely, we're winning" in Iraq. Bush added then, "As a matter of fact, my view is the only way we lose in Iraq is if we leave before the job is done."

Headlines buzzed that the US wasn't winning. And thus Robert Gates started walking his message back in line:

This afternoon before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates offered what he called a "clarification" of his earlier remarks about not winning. "I want to make clear that that pertains to the situation in Iraq as a whole," he said. He said that "we all applaud and appreciate" what U.S. troops are doing in Iraq, and he said he doesn't know of a single battle that they've lost. But, he said, "The situation in Iraq is much more complex than just the military actions."

Anyhoo, Gates got a unanimous pass onto a full Senate vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee, it seems Mr. Gates