Who do you think is responsible for our failure in Iraq?

i agree with you

So true MSgt.... a large part of the problem is that there is NO sense of nationhood among the Iraqis. After all, weren't parts of 3 countries/cultures combined when Churchill drew the lines creating the borders of Iraq? They are tribal-religious oriented and lack a cohesive nation based identity.

Well said TSgt!

Liberals love to say, "There were no WMDs!" It just FLAT OUT A LIE. Chemical and biological weapons are WMDs. No NUCLEAR weapons were found, but the truth has never stopped a liberal from shouting his slogan.

It's also fair to state that Iraqi WMD "scientists" were lying to Saddam to keep their cushy jobs. Saddam believed them, and he was there with them, so perhaps there is an excuse for us believing them as well.

I beg to differ. What was found was badly degraded munitions manufactured prior to the first Iraq war. In any event the Bush invasion created a haven for Al Qaeda and now ISIS or ISIL that did not exist prior to 2003. Calling someone a liberal does not change the fact that Bush's war was the greatest victory for Islamic extremism. While Obama has his faults in regards to foreign policy he can't be blamed for the Iraqi misadventure that began in 2003. From first to last OIF was a Bush created catastrophe. I am just sorry so many of our brave men and women paid the price for it. Incidentally, I am not a "liberal" but a conservative veteran of the first Gulf war. But "I calls it as I sees it."

I am aware of the large cache of badly degraded munitions found in the north. You aren't seriously suggesting that was the only cache? I am also aware of the two vans containing remote handling equipment as well as equipment for developing bacteria. Everything for "pharmaceuticals" was present except the sterilizer, which would be necessary to produce agricultural pharmaceuticals. In short, they were for making biotoxins.

I've heard before the war called a victory for Islamic extremism. What I don't hear is a comprehensive plan in place of it. Leave them alone? Like we did Al Capone? Depend on someone else to do it? (Arab countries agitated for this as early as the first gulf war, but long on talk and short on action.)

I am less impressed by armchair quarterbacking than I am by liberalism. Could it have been done better? Damn straight. Should it have been done? I am sure something needed to be done. If Bush hadn't jammed 12000 soldiers into Camp Doha, we might have continued the diplomatic way, but SOMETHING had to be done.

In my critique, I offered 4 things that the Bush administration could have done better. I'm waiting for the FIRST from you. I'm not giving Bush a free pass or rubber stamp. Saying you don't like the something, but not offering anything better ... sad.

SGM; You ask "You aren't seriously suggesting that was the only cache?". How many caches of non-functional weapons does it take to conduct a chemical/biological attack?

You say "I am also aware of the two vans containing remote handling equipment as well as equipment for developing bacteria.". Need I remind you that even the US Government has admitted that those vans were exactly what the Iraqi government had been claiming them to be - mobile hydrogen production facilities?

Now, does anyone really care what "The Bush Administration" could have done better? The real question is "What are we going to do the next time?" (coupled, of course, [says the cynic in me] with "And how can we prevent it costing us votes?").