9 years and 4500 Dead Americans

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

As Joe rightly says, a lot of the Iraqi civilian deaths were caused by other Iraqis.

As military doctrine says should happen when a conquering nation does not do nation building. Those first six months were that critical. As Colin Powell's "Future of Iraq" study group warned of ten years ago long before even Gen Garner appeared.

Previously, the Kurds have been successful as peace makers. In part because Kurds are so secure in their part of Iraq. Can they still do that without an 800 pound guerilla in the room?

A resulting power vacuum is also an open door for Iranian supporters of their 'favorite' side. That Sadr finished his education in Iran after deciding combat with Americans was counter-productive. Was that coincidence or part of a longer term plan?

The fact that so much violence is happening so quickly implies long term planning. Easy to implement since Iraq's economy remained worse than it was under Saddam.