My guess is that when we liberated Iraq we expected to have less of this radical islamic violence than what has in fact happened. It is notable that there are suspicions that other countries such as Iran, Syria and Russia have had a hand in not only ensuring that a group of insurgents would be dug in prior to the US invasion, but that they would receive continued support across the difficult to enforce borders. I think the Iraqi Christians are naive to believe that Syria is a good place to be in the long term. Turning my critique to the US, I think we have been far too politically correct during the mop up phase in Iraq. We have been too lenient and have been too obsessed with avoiding collateral damage - as a result the dug in, foreign supported Fedayeen and their insurgent partners, are getting off scot free. Also, we dismissed, far too quickly, the idea of restoration of Constitutional Monarchy in Iraq. A Constitutional Monarchy there could have (and still could) play a strong role in protecting the Christians, and, keeping the lid on ethnic tensions.
"We"? When the secular government in Syria is overthrown there will be much more islamic violence in Syria and Syrian churches will be destroyed (like in Kosovo under the supervision of NATO troops).