I didn’t support Libya, bosnia, Kosova or nation building in iraq, so I was down on that by 2004, iirc.
I always supported the troops AND GWBush’s authority to make the call. It was a mistake.
Most of us conservatives believed that Bush and his advisors knew what they were doing, and that they would put our nation and Christian values first.
We were wrong to trust them so blindly, never thinking that W was pushing the Religion if Peace out of Political Correctness and not the truth of Islam.
To this day W still supports democratic movements, even if they lead to Islamist, terrorist sponsoring nations. As long as there are elections, that is all that matters, according to W. We learned our lesson, that no politician is to be trusted at face value ever.
The price was, shockingly, 1,000s of dead and maimed patriots, and the futures of 2-3 more generations mortgaged away for a far less stable, and less free world. We could have learned that lesson at a price far less dear and devastating.
Your call is unduly pessimistic.
You do not give enough credit to:
Unless these unfavorable factors are accounted for, things naturally look like incompetence on Bush's part.
Notwithstanding all of which, the Surge still worked, requiring Obama to throw the war in broad daylight.