Won in 2008, only to lose in 2013, or 2033 or... See Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, etc. We may have given the enlightened among the Iraqis time to share a moment, but, as Paul Harvey has said, the backward, tribal, Muslim Arab is neither ready for nor capable of a sustained, modern, free, elected government. The terrorist attackers of September 11th used that which their culture could never have invented to destroy that which their culture could never have built. Somewhat similarly, the Iraqis have received a gift of freedom that they did not really want and will not be able to properly care for. Democracy in Iraq has the life expectancy of a divorced guy’s houseplants.
In the long run we are all dead. Your undying pessimism is noted.