From Robert's earlier post:
"The world, including those Americans who aren't diehard Bush partisans, won't accept excuses, no matter how plausible. We have a serious problem here. Bush took a big gamble, and seems to have lost. He's traded America's credibility, leadership, and respect for the pale consolation of fear. Without WMD to justify his war against Iraq, he's positioned America as simply a bully, the 900 pound gorilla that can compel obedience through killing those who oppose our will.".

Robert is right: I also think it was a gamble on the presence of WMDs in Iraq.
This means that the WH administration had advisors like Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld who wanted to get rid of Saddam long before 9/11 and used this event as a justification to take action.
The problem was that reasons for war kept coming and changing, which made the whole case weaker and weaker.
First the Terrorist connection: but the ROW knew Iraq was a secular state and the terrorists were islamist funadamentalists. the ROW knew that none of the 20 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq, the ROW knew those terrorists trained in Afghanistan, had money from Saudi Arabia.
Then the WMD connection: but the nuclear one (or rather the new killer one a la GWB) vanished very quickly and the UN inspectors did find cooperation (lately, ok) and neither them nor the present inspectors can find any WMD so far, even under the occupied Iraq.
Then the regime change: aha an islamist regime, like it's neighbour Iran? Good luck! The Baathists are being chased away for their crimes under the prvious regime, so what is there left? No woinder Al Qaeda is becoming active in Iraq! Pandora's box has been opened.

And now, Iraqis get killed because they cooperate too visibly with the US troops; US soldiers are been ambushed and ordered to stay months (of growing heat and danger) longer in a country they don't talk the language of.

I hope the US grows more and more aware of the situation.

Raoul