Perhaps some of you need to read a good book on the Gulf War and subsequent Iraq War so that you will not continue this endless parade of "stupid" I always hear coming from both sides.
The reason we did not take out Saddam in the Gulf War is because no one wanted to do that. The Arabs in the coalition wanted Saddam out of Kuwait, but still wanted him in power as a counter to Iran. Most ignoramuses do not realize that our troops never invaded Iraq in that conflict with the intention of holding Iraqi territory. The Arab members of the coalition made that fact absolutely clear. President George H.W. Bush was caught between a rock and a hard place, so our troops packed up and headed home in 1992, only to return 11 years later.
People tend to forget that there was almost 18 months between 9/11/2001 and when the invasion took place in 2003. There was a great deal of water under the bridge and selective memories like to gloss over that fact.
Our military was initially greeted as victors for a significant period of time in 2003. Long-term memory losses by people who were otherwise occupied at the time seems to make them forget that Iraq was well on it's way to democracy, but our failure to force our terms on the Iraqi's own self-determination allowed Sunnis to limit participation b the Shiites fomenting centuries of religious hatred to flair into a civil war between militias from each side.
Far too many of you on both ends of the political spectrum are woefully ignorant of the realities that shaped those conflicts. As a veteran of the Gulf War, I have the honor of saying "I was there", so you can remain wallowing in your parroting of talking points, but most of you likely are clueless as to the big picture.
Was it botched? The war was not botched. It was a masterful stroke of military genius unlike anything seen before in human history. As other posters have said, we lost the peace.
