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Originally posted by shakran
Um. It wasn't successful. Successful invasions do not have major battles going on every day for a year after "major hostilities have ended." Successful invasions do not wind up with more people killed after the war is supposedly over than were killed during the war.
Anyone who calls this little adventure we're having in Iraq anything close to successful is either misinformed or deluding themselves.
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Well, let's see...
I seem to recall all the predictions just before we invaded. Hundreds of thousands dead, oil fields burning, environmental disasters, bloody battle after bloody battle for every meter of ground gained, American and coalition troops suffering tens of thousands deaths, surrounding countries taking the oppotunity to seize border lands in the confusion, etc, etc, etc.
The invasion ended up taking days rather than months and years, Baghdad was taken with minimal casualties, there was relatively little infrastructure damage, and in about a year, there is a hell of a lot of progress.
Occupation is always a PITA. Major battles are almost non existent with the vast majority being hit and run attacks. Yeah I'd have to say overall it has been an outstanding invasion and it will appear in military texts for years to come as an amazingly well coordinated attack which took advantage of significant opportunities as they arose.