If, after toppling Saddam, we had been able to follow through with a workable plan for rebuilding as well as providing an opportunity for elections - there may have been a chance for bringing stability to this region. Our enemies were ahead of us - and through the use of unconventional war methods (some used by the French resistance) they were able to thwart most efforts in rebuilding Iraq. One mistake (among many) was not incorporating some of the existing police force to assist. . . .and not paying those who were assisting. (Big mistake!!) We did not have enough troops there to maintain order - and the enemy had enough money and influence to incorporate the villagers into the terrorist activities that stalled (killed) our troops. Sunday quarterbacking is easy - it is having the intelligence to see that a plan is not working and altering it to insure victory that is needed now. Our allies have all but left us in this mess. We've lost some battles - but I don't think the war on terror is lost. We need to regroup, plan based on reality, and incorporate diplomacy with our military might. Our actions may have kept some oil pipelines open - but we have also opened Pandora’s box in the Middle East. We'll have to deal with it.

I can't imagine what the "real" powers in this world think of the USA for such a foolish war as Iraq!
Russia, China, Great Britain (including England, Canada, and Australia), India, Indonesia, and the European Union, must now know that we couldn't occupy them either, if we wanted to do so.
That is not to say that they want several nuclear bombs a piece floated their way if necessary, but avoiding that, as has N, Korea, and Iran, they could be formidable right now.
Syria, Palestinians, and the Israelites keep each other busy now as they have for eons.
Jordon, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, are harmless except to harbor terrorists and supply oil. Jordon even has two Queens and one King!
To answer your question: I think the middle east will be at war somewhere for another 6000 years. Just about everybody has tried to civilize them (England (Great Britain), Turkey, Alexander, Napoleon, and the USA) and no one has succeeded.
I said once before, that if something were to happen to the Holy City--say it evaporated and was highly radiated, that maybe the rest of the rocks and sand wouldn't be worth fighting over!

Thanks to Bush & Co. here we are now in a bad position in the world, confronting another defeat, going back to those post-Vietnam years in which the U.S. was seen as a sort of World Police and bully...how I wish we had found WMD in Iraq at least, but this war was economic from the very beginning, about oil and Halliburton making Cheney and others billionare to the expense of the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. In any case I believe our country will spring back and resume its sound leadership in the free world, a leadership earned by our intellectual merits and our ideas about freedom and justice, respect for other cultures and peoples. Terrorism is a plague and cannot be defeated by military means only. It is a battle of ideas, and ideas is what this Administration lacks.
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Making you think twice......