Although at the time, I didn't think he was doing it anywhere near fast enough. I figure once you've decided you've achieved everything possible and have decided to leave it isn't worth one more life or one more dollar.

Of course, nation-states have to "save face", that's what we call it when the other guy does it. When we do it, its called "Peace with Honor". So you have to go through the motions, setting up the local puppet, training him and supplying him, withdrawing your own forces gradually so it doesn't look like you're being driven out, or leaving your friends holding the bag, the usual schoolyard strut. It's pretty much what Obama is doing in Afghanistan right now. It looks like he didn't have to do it in Iraq. Once you've decided you're not going to win, you need to get out immediately. You owe it to those guys dying out there.

This may sound a little cynical and Realpolitik to you, but think it over from the point of view of the GIs and their families. Do you want to be, or do you want your kid to be, The Last Guy? That's what we used to call it in the Vietnam Era. Somebody was going to be the Last Guy, and no one wanted to be him. You knew you might have to die or get maimed when you signed up. But you knew you were risking it for a reason. No one wants to risk it for nothing.