As CIC, GWB gets the blame. But if you think this war was winnable 2 years ago, you have been watching too many TV shows where it’s all neatly wrapped up at the end.
We are fighting foes that think and adapt, not predictable TV characters. We are following textbook counterinsurgency strategy rather than just razing the place. The latter would just make things worse.
Have a little patience. It has been a remarkably successful war in terms of limited US casualities and limited structural damage to a society that was rotten to the core. If the weak sisters do not prevail, Iraq will be a US ally for generations to come.
While I appreciate your positive outlook, and I am a patient man, there is no reason in hell that 4 years into this thing we are just getting around to ‘securing Baghdad’. That should have been done just about immediately... within 6 months of going in. I hope Iraq is our ally in the future but frankly we were much too polite going into this thing.