Iraq was a clusterfuck from the start. We would not have needed the surge if Bush and Rumsfeld had listened to some of their generals in the first place and gone in with a huge force. The surge was needed to overcome the stupidity of the thing in the first place. That being said, the left said the surge would not succeed. Hell, I was skeptical, but I was proved wrong. The surge is the reason we were able to leave before December 2011.
Iraq and Afghanistan are apples and oranges, and Afghanistan is the clusterfuck it is because the Reagan administration dropped the ball after the Soviets left. We created a void, could have filled that void with new schools and infrastructure which MIGHT have made it harder for the Taliban to gain a political monopoly. I am not saying it would have surely done that, but all attempts to continue funding Afghanistan were killed after the Soviets left. Modern wars are never won without some follow through to stabilize the country that is left at the end. The Marshall plan proved that point. Unfortunately, I am not sure that any Islamic nation can be put right again by western governments and this point in history. The people don't trust us and the governments play both sides to insure their existence.
