Panda

The US/UK led invasion of Iraq has to go down in history as one of the greatest monumental strategic and military failures of all time!!

Forget the original bogus excuse of protecting the world from WMDs. That bogyman has now been passed to Iran.

What the "Coalition of the Willing" will leave behind is a fractured country in chaos with basic infrastructure like running water and electricity severely compromised, and up to a million dead, -- mostly civilians including women and kids.
A country divided into competing ethnic groups in a state of virtual civil war.
A country that has provided a fertile recruiting ground for anti-western Muslim radicals.

And to top it off, -- a country that didn't live up to expectations of providing a puppet government under the pretence of democracy. A country that refused to abandon OPEC. A country that refused to sign an open ended contract allowing continuous US occupation. A country that refused to sign an open ended contract allowing US and UK companies exclusive rights to develop Iranian oil reserves.

After 5 years and hundreds of $billions, there has been nothing gained and indeed much lost.

All in all, no sane person could call the US/UK folly in Iraq a victory. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Not for USA, UK or Iraq itself. Everyone has been a looser in this unnecessary and illegal war.

Navel gazing at how to get out of this mess with the least amount of damage is no consolation.