Not my decision to make.
For every Iraqi mourning the loss of a family member due to this war, there are about thirty who lost a family member due to Saddam. Ask them.
You want to know if it's worth it? Don't ask me, ask the Americans over there doing the fighting. What do they say when asked? What are the reenlistment rates for Iraqi combat troops?
It's pretty much been established that if a Democrat was running the show right now, we would have bailed out a long time ago. Would that have been better? You do realize that the 30,000 and 2,000 numbers you mentioned balance to a large extent? One goes down as the other goes up?