Ahhh yes, Damien435, believe me, I could live with that, Big time!!
It seems that the locals are doomed to die anyway, the civil war is alive and well in Iraq. We certainly haven't stopped it, or for that matter even slowed it down the slightest bit in fact it is totally beyond our control. We are trying to control middle eastern culture and beliefs with Western logic. It doesn't work, would be conquerors have tried for thousands of years,..... They all failed. Look up the fable of "The Frog and the Scorpion"
In years to come when you stand in the early morning rain in front of your local War memorial on Veteran's Day, think of your mates who died and their families who never got over the loss of their sons and daughters, you will ask yourself, "Was it worth the cost"?
The Vietnam experience certainly wasn't. The communists took over the South anyway. Our young men died to appease the military desires of persons who never even got out of their comfort zone, and in many cases profited from the war, either politically or monetarily.
When the time arrives that our collective Governments finally realise that there is no honourable way out as they did in Vietnam we will all be forced to go to the table and eat another giant sized serving of Humble Pie, and believe me,
"I don't like it".
The politicians will bluster and make excuses but the truth will remain, we lost. Not because of the lack of courage or will to fight, of the men on the firing line, but those who led us too hastily into something that they didn't give proper consideration at the very start.
In wars such as this we don't only lose the war, we lose our honour in the eyes of the world. Once again,
"I don't like it"
It is not a "Winable" war. Everyone will lose, some more than others.
That's my view anyway.