"Vietnamization" led to a complete North Vietnam takeover.

In Fallujah US Marines patrol only with the permission of a former Republican Guard general wearing his Republican Guard uniform. He's the man.

In Vietnam thousands upon thousands of Americans died after it became a quagmire because two American presidents regarded their presidencies as more important than those lives.

In Iraq people are dying after it has become clear there are no WMD, the country is not ready for classical Western "democracy", and that whatever happens they do not like the US. And the recent events pretty well guarantee they will never like the US.

So, while no one has the guts to "cut and run", the US is still throwing good money after bad, still losing lives for no good reason except to cover political tails from people who say the US should stay the course, and run absolutely, completely aground with even more of the crew dead.

If you can't "win" in a case like this, then you can only lose more lives and money. The question is how much you want to lose. And how can one explain to the families of the dead that they died for a good cause?

Arf