I agree. Textbook example of how to use Military to defeat Saddam. Everyone goes back to the successful campaign that saw Saddam statues being overturned and the excitement of many in Iraq. Even Dems were all for it at that point. The occupations stage got ugly where we underestimated the hostility between different sects of Muslims (which is why there will never be peace with Muslims since some are the very strict militant muslims that interpret the only way is to kill non muslims. Again, Bush doubled down and had helped solidify, the situation. Obama’s pulling out totally blew up the hard fought victory.
Finally, the one thing that everyone missed with taking the war to Iraq and Afghanistan, was that it preoccupied our enemies and funnelled all the action in those places, they didn’t have time or chances to focus actions against USA itself. Our withdrawal has now allowed them to refocus on proactive targets in the U.S and Europe vs fighting defensive war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Perhaps Iraq should have immediately been split into separate countries along tribal regions, instead of always trying to force warring tribes to live together. One of them is always going to vie for power. Undraw those British imposed borders, each sect can be the big dog of their very own dirt patch.