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

Let me be annoying for a second and just ask for clarification. Do you mean OEF as in Afghanistan or do you mean Iraq which is OIF or OND?

What makes you think we failed in Iraq? We did not fail in Iraq! The administration failed to listen to the advice of the outgoing administration and did not leave a contingency force. The Obama administration failed in Iraq after our military victory. The president allowed politics and his personal feelings to outweigh good judgment, therefore, created a vacuum in the region that was filled by al Kaida and insurgents from Iran.

I think W made a mistake when he ordered the invasion of Iraq. His reasons have since been vindicated as WMDs have been found. After all, we knew they were there because we sold them to Saddam. W's daddy made a wise decision by not invading when Kuwait was liberated. He clipped Saddam's wings, but did not destroy the balance of power in the region. Taking down Saddam gave Iran a free reign to conduct their terror. The current situation however, is the fault of obama. Pulling out all troops opened the door for ISIS and the subsequent slaughter of thousands of Christians. Our government never learns. Some countries do not thrive under democracy and Iraq is one of those countries.

I think there is a lot of blame to go around. When Powell was making statements like "if you break it, you buy it" there were administration officials with no combat experience saying Vietnam made him weak. Rumsfeld said "you go to war with the Army you have and not the Army you want" and just wanted to show how "shock and awe" was the new way to fight wars. We had no plan beyond "mission accomplished" other than collecting the roses and money the newly freed Iraqis threw at us. And like in many other places we put people in power who weren't the best option for their country but were most likely to follow our lead. We tend to try and prop up governments doomed to eventually fail to get our way. We did it with Saddam, Iran, Vietnam,...

I think the overall problem in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam is that they are a lot more patient than we are. Vietnam had been fighting with France and knew they we would quit eventually. They knew the same when we entered. Same in Iraq and Afghanistan. They play the long game and we go all in on the first hand. Actually we don't even go all in anymore because we fight wars politically. When we were bombing Germany we were doing what we had to do to win. Same with using atomic bombs on Japan. The options we gave were surrender or be annihilated and not please don't make us shoot you. You go to war to crush the enemies will to fight and not just for the time period of war, but forever.

I think in the Muslim countries, Somalia showed that there was a level of loss beyond which we will no longer support the mission. And pulling out reinforced for many that we had weak stomachs at home. We also add in that most of the countries have borders defined by western governments not base on anything other than what benefited their own interests (resources) at that time and many decision makers have no understanding of other cultures.

I think now I am just rambling :-)

CPT (Join to see), "Not trying to start a debate ..."

Sorry, sir, but you are trying to start a debate, or at least win one that you fashioned. From your post, "failure", "screwing OIF up", "blame falls with", "obvious", "mishandled" ...

Which doesn't mean I don't think there were failures, blame, and mishandling aplenty.

1) Failure to recognize the extent to which we allowed Iraqi politicians to play politics and line their pockets with money rather than get on with the job of building a stable country. (Applies to Afghan politicians as well.)
2) Failure to capitalize on what we have in common, rather than emphasizing our differences. (Specifically I'm referring to allowing our enemies to set the debate about religion without any reasonable response.)
3) Failure to set a policy covering collateral damage. The opposition has continued the policy of using and causing civilian casualties and blaming us for it. We need to drop a billion leaflets on Iraq and Afghanistan (with collateral coverage of Iran) showing the following:

Here is a terrorist. He kills people.
Here is a US bomb dropping on the terrorist's head.
If you stand next to a terrorist, especially one riding in a captured US vehicle, you may die when we drop a bomb on his head.
If you choose to stand so, your death is YOUR fault, not ours. We do not want to kill anyone, not even terrorists, but if we need to stop him, we aren't going to let you being in the way stop us.
We do not want your family to mourn you loss, so when you see a terrorist, move away from him as quickly as possible.

4) Failure to prosecute, seize, confiscate, or whatever, the illegally gained money of those who were paid for projects but did not deliver them.
5) Failure to support those who aided us, whether by money, security, or immigration. Every time we cut the legs off from someone who supported us, we make it that much harder to gain support next time.

And who do I assign the lion's share of this blame to? The American people and the two-party system of government we are saddled with. (We need a viable third party so we can avoid the intentional gridlock between the two major parties.) We cannot manage to get politicians with limited to no military knowledge out of military operations. We cannot seem to remember that no politician will support any policy that might keep him from getting re-elected. So we vacillate, double-talk, countermand, meddle, interfere, and make poor long-term decisions.

Religious intolerance on multiple sides. Extremist!

If the people who say the U.S. military failed in Iraq, were around in 1941---we'd be speaking Japanese right now. The U.S. military has never failed in any mission they've ever been given----The Washington lawyers are the ones that screw up things--- by making decisions and introducing policies' that favor their political agendas first---at the expense of the peoples we liberate.---- In my humble opinion the news services are no better and seem to promote this type of behavior ----Regrettably, the days of Walter Cronkite and Edward R Murrow are long gone.

We left the GOI with the best chance of success that we could provide. They had to/have to want it more than than we do. Our desires and dreams can't fix their lack of desire. Unfortunately, many times our war aims are different, or at odds, with what the nation we are supporting really wants.

Politicians. Military folks know how to win wars. Politicians know nothing about either winning wars, or winning peace. They are truly just here for the money.

We didn't fail in Iraq. The Iraqi's failed, not the United States. We failed to keep an eye on a country we liberated, in that we should have kept a monitoring force but Obama was too interested in claiming bragging rights. He wanted the money from the war to offset Obamacare. Makes you wonder since we are back in Iraq and spending money, where is he getting the money for Obamacare?