Are we in a quagmire?

I'd have said no last week, but as Deacon at Power Line blog notes:

Those who use the term never seem to provide a test for determining whether a quagmire exists but, for my money, a good test is whether "ceasefires" are occurring. Now that they are in Iraq, it may be time to officially acknowledge that we are in a quagmire.

I hope somebody wakes up and takes Jed Babbin's advice.

It seems to be an Arab trait to try to mediate every fight, but you shouldn't agree to a ceasefire, because they won't stop the fighting for it. Let the mediators work while the violence goes on. If the mediation succeeds, fine, but if we win before that so much the better. It's just a lot less trouble to make the other side surrender.