Karl Rove is one of those people who subscribe to the idea that "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing".
The stamp of that idea is on the Bush Administration in that they have been governing so much as they are trying to rule.
The Administration meme about Iraq has been tied consistently to some notion of 'winning', but not exactly for the obvious reason, i.e., that we are trying to establish a democracy in Iraq. From the Wall Street Journal,
A voracious reader, Mr. Rove augmented the administration's Iraq war effort with research by Duke University social scientists who dispute conventional wisdom that rising casualties erode public backing for military conflicts. The academics, who said the key to maintaining support is public confidence in eventual victory, have influenced the White House strategy of pointing to political benchmarks like this week's vote on a constitution.
To Rove, winning is the only thing that they need to do in Iraq, and any step taken to further that goal is acceptable.