Doug Winterburn notes:

That may all be true, but the same arguments could have been made about
Japan after WWII.

Different situation. A society with a cohesive structure based on religious awe
aimed at the emperor, who immediately abdicated after his side lost. Brutally
violent culture, yes, but cohesive. I don't think you can say Iraq has a
cohesive structure, even. Again, brutally violent, but in many factions, though
all lay claim to the same basic religion.

And our "exit strategy" there and Germany and Korea and
Kosovo and ... was?

We had no exit strategy in Germany--we still have something like 70,000 troops
there. Same with Korea, but a smaller number and more likely to be needed in
the immediate future. Kosovo? Another place we shouldn't be, but still are.

Point being, though, that we do occasionally need to learn a lesson. I'm not
sure when that will happen, but in soggy little ********s, we do not need to
leave people hanging, often fighting and nearly forgotten (give Iraq another
3-4 years and see what happens), expending our resources to no good purpose
(arguably, Germany and Japan were good purposes).

And hell, we didn't have an exit strategy in Nam. The Democrats couldn't figure
out how to get out, so Nixon just bailed after he got in, though it took him
several years to do the job while he went Asiatic (trying to save face).

Charlie Self
"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use
our power the greater it will be." Thomas Jefferson