"Does anyone really believe if the Iraq war had not taken place that we would be dealing with these heavy losses tonight?"
No, but Saddam had to be taken out following 9/11. THe war itself went well. The peace has unfortunately not been too peaceful and judging by the elections tonight, people are sick of it.
Although I do not believe creating a democratic republic in the Arab world is possible, and would rather we went the "total war" route, it's only three provinces in the middle of Iraq that are causing problems. The rest of the country is pacified.