The Washington Post is reporting that top U.S. military leaders in Iraq are admitting publicly for the first time that the U.S. may be losing the war in Iraq.

The commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Army Major General Charles Swannack, told the Post the US. is winning on a tactical level but losing strategically.

Army Colonel Paul Hughes, who is involved in formulating Iraq policy, compared Iraq to Vietnam. He told the Post “I lost my brother in Vietnam. I promised myself, when I came on active duty, that I would do everything in my power to prevent that [sort of strategic loss] from happening again. Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don’t understand the war we’re in.”

Another senior general at the Pentagon said, “It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this. The American people may not stand for it — and they should not.”

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel also raised questions Sunday on Face the Nation about whether the US was losing.

He said, “I think we are right on the edge in Iraq right now… I think it’s still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General Myers, can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military of the American people to lead this country.”