The problem with Iraq (and actually every US war since World War II), is that we continue to define it in Western terms. We aren't fighting a European-style war where once you capture the flag, the war is over. This is a different type of enemy with different tactics and strategies.
Did you know that we never lost a battle in Vietnam? That we dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than we dropped on Europe during World War II? (1) People keep saying that the will to fight gave out back home, but why should the American public be expected to continue supporting a war for eight years (2), much less one where no matter how many times the VC and North Vietnamese were beaten they kept coming back?
American politicians and generals kept framing it in terms of "victory" and "defeat", which is what ultimately led to the fall of Saigon. When your terms of victory are the complete destruction of your enemy, then all the enemy has to do is survive, and they've won. That's why North Vietnam triumphed in the end.
And we still haven't learned the lessons of asymmetric, guerilla warfare, or the proper way to even
define the conflict. Look at Israel: despite the fact the Hezbollah is no match for the Israeli army, the general consensus after the fact was that the invasion of Lebanon was a disaster. Why? Israel framed the conflict wrong, achieved none of its goals (end of the rocket attacks and the return of the captured soldiers), and all Hezbollah had to do was survive to look like the heroes of the Middle East.
This is the situation that the US finds itself in today, a mis-framed, asymmetrical guerilla war. The surge has improved security, but as much of that improvement has come from Muqtada al-Sadr's voluntary decision to observe a cease-fire. He's biding his time, just like the North Vietnamese did. And Al-Qaeda has been hurt badly in Iraq, so they've turned their attention to Afghanistan.
There is no "victory" in this situation. How can there be? I'm not defeatist, and I don't take pleasure in the deaths of Iraqis or Americans. But this is just a plain bad situation that does not have a neat conclusion anywhere in sight. In light of all of that, are we to ask the American public, and the armed forces, to continue fighting indefinitely, hoping for what amounts to a miracle? Saigon eventually fell, and that was probably the best possible outcome. As I stated before, Iraq's civil war is inevitable, and we're just baby-sitting until then.
1.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0107_040107_tvbombdigger.html
2.
http://www.vietnamwar.com/
