What has been learned could not have been known except through hard lessons. For all the sophisticated intelligence assembled by coalition member agencies, all the scenarios imagined for a post-Saddam Iraq and all the misguided assumptions of a quixotic administration, this uncelebrated anniversary reflects on a country still locked in the grip of turmoil with no cogent extraction strategy in sight.

What is known is that Saddam Hussein exploited and murdered his countrymen and that weapons of mass destruction were not discovered, although Saddam disclosed in captivity that he fully intended to re-engage his plans to develop them once United Nations sanctions were lifted. If any misgivings about WMD linger, remember that Saddam's self image as a valiant conqueror played out in deadly assaults on his neighbors in Kuwait, Iran and Israel that caused widespread destruction.

We know that President Bush over-reached in using the WMD threat as a premise for invading Iraq, but also that the decision to use military force was broadly endorsed by Congress and the leaders of many other countries as was the decision to route Islamic extremists from Afghanistan.

We know that the sacrifices and human toll for this war have far exceeded any conceived expectations.

We have known from the outset that President Bush fully intended to leave office with victory clearly articulated in Iraq and in Afghanistan as proof of America's strength and resolve in the global the war against terror.

We stand now as a nation at the cyclical changing of the guard in an election year a time of decision that will determine a new commander-in-chief and a new direction for America. But also in the balance is the fate of a distant nation teetering between stability and chaos as its people struggle for unification, security and self-determination.

According to a recent Gallup poll, most Americans recognize that the troop surge is working. Iraq's fragile foothold on democracy and security seems to be holding. Sen. McCain wishes to see troop levels maintained for as long as needed to finish the job.

Just 18 percent of respondents in the Gallup poll support the pledge to withdraw troops on a timetable "as soon as possible." The immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq proposed by Democratic presidential contenders, Senators Clinton and Obama, would result in certain failure for Iraq.

News that the Iraqi government has conscripted 425,000 men in its security force follows reports of reductions in insurgent attacks and civilian casualties and near complete neutralization of al Qaeda in Iraq. Moqtada al-Sadr, the powerful radical cleric who leads Iraq's largest Shiite sect and the Mahdi army militia, recently signed a six-month extension to the cease fire he has honored since summer.

The invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan created flash points that drew jihadists from other Arab countries to confront Western ideology. After five years, thousands of extremists have been captured or killed and jihadists have realized that suicide bombings, assassination and cowardly acts such as 9/11 will not win over the will of people to be free of tyranny and oppression.

America's course in Iraq will be settled when a new commander-in-chief is elected. Though it is certain Americans are ready for change, it is disheartening to see five years of sacrifice and progress in Iraq marginalized by the sort of sound-byte rationale and superficial promises now characteristic of this critically important election.