To which you replied:
I agree with the first sentence of your comments but not the second. The problem was we entered Iraq with large numbers of infantry and heavy armor to confront Saddam, thinking we were going to be welcomed as liberators. That plan fell apart when we discovered a significant number of Iraqis, especially in the Sunni Triangle, really didn't like us that much.
So then we were faced with an insurgency but still had a large occupying army playing "whack-a-mole." Since you're prior Army, you probably know that in order to defeat an insurgency, among other things, you need time and patience, things the American public is not noted for keeping in great quantity. We carried out our surge in 2007 and by 2008 declared it a success, even though we now know that a large number of these insurgents simply crossed the border into Syria. Notwithstanding our self-congratulatory orations on defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq or Ansar-al-Islam or any other insurgent group, we face a greater threat today from this ideology than at any time in our history as evidenced by the rise of ISIS. ISIS drew much of its strength, including its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, from these supposedly defeated groups.
So slap yourself out of your delusion that we defeated anybody and start smelling the roses.
11 facts that explain the escalating crisis in Iraq - Vox
al-Qaeda in Iraq Resugent