Because people today have a lot "invested" in this war -- emotionally, intellectually, and politically. Even many folks who know damn well that the war has been a failure -- and who never would have believed in 2003 that it would have unfolded this way -- will never openly admit it.
How has the war been a failure? The only place the war has failed is in the minds of the Democrats ... and in your mind, apparently.
Goals of the war:
Remove Saddam Hussein from power ... check
Establish a freely elected leadership ... check
Rebuild Iraqi infrastructure (Where Saddam built palaces, we build schools) ... check
Train and equip police/army to defend the new country ... working on it
The biggest goal in the war that wasn't achieved was securing the WMD. Clearly those went to Syria, probably with the aid of the Russians, prior to the start of the war.
But the bodies of terrorists continue to pile up in Iraq - many or most of whom are foreign terrorists who have come to Iraq because they want to fight Americans.
Politically, the war has turned sour, but the ultimate goals of preventing Iraq from becoming a state sponsor of terror and of developing a democracy that might be a spark in the Middle East are goals that are still achievable if our will doesn't break. But the naysayers, who claim the war is already lost and who whine that it's a failure will absolutely undermine our nation's interests and the soldiers on the ground if they can.
If you want to see true failure, pull out the troops now and watch Iraq dissolve into a civil war where Taliban-like terrorists take over and provide al Qaeda and the like with a nation base - just like they had in Afghanistan - sponsored by Iran.
You're working off the talking points of the MSM (talk about a lot "invested" in the failure of the war). The MSM's talking points didn't fly with me four years ago, and they don't fly now.
I'll admit that I didn't think it would go this way. But failure? Puleeze. The only way this war is a failure is if we follow your path and give the enemy the win.