Iraqi Progress or Quagmire?

Powerline has offered their criteria for measuring success in Iraq. They identify reconstruction, casualties, and popularity among Iraqis as the relevant measures. Deacon's conclusion is that things are going reasonably well.

They point to Max Boot's similarly constructed argument in the LAT. Boot's criteria are nation-building, casualties, and abuses. These are in fact the same criteria, since only abuses will seriously undermine American popularity among Iraqis.

Both Powerline and Boot argue that things are going very well when compared to past examples of similar nature. I've been reading Boot's Savage Wars of Peace, and when one compares the criteria identified here with the examples of the past, I too agree.