MORE THAN EIGHTEEN MONTHS after it began, Operation Iraqi Freedom may be entering its decisive phase. At last, the battle is being joined in the Sunni heartland. The stronghold of Saddam Hussein’s rule was left relatively untouched in the initial invasion, was given a death-bed reprieve last spring, and has been the rallying point for insurgents since the fall of Baghdad. With elections scheduled for January and the Alawi government in Baghdad at risk, the inevitable could no longer be postponed.

Thus, the long-awaited “Battle of Falluja” has been joined. But though the fighting in the town of 300,000 is center stage, Falluja is best understood as just a part of a larger campaign in al Anbar province. And victory, as always, will be measured not simply in combat, but in the liberation–and the greater stability–to follow. For the United States and for a free Iraq, what matters is not how rapidly coalition forces reduce the resistance, but how safe the streets of Falluja, Ramadi, Baqubah, and other towns become in the next few months. Ultimately, it is not the body count, but the vote count that will be decisive.