Winning in Iraq? Losing moral authority...

After a very civil and intellectual debate with a poster here on this board, I felt it was needed to discuss a comment he made at the end of our discussion. He or she stated they "supported winning". Winning is great when it comes to a ribbon, a Stanley Cup, or the World Series. This is by no means a shot at the poster, whom I enjoyed conversing with on this site, it is however the opening of debating "winning". If winning means more photos like what you see pictured, I would rather lose. I understood the elected leadership after 9/11 defining a war on terror by catching those responsible...

It morphed into Saddam's WMD's and then became an occupation. Our troops have responded with great admiration, and followed the orders given to them. I question the orders and who gave them. It is well known now that there were no WMD's, and the Republicans have no interest in leaving Iraq. It has been about profit and oil since day one. You need only follow the money trail. The oil companies and private contractors have reaped billions of dollars from the U.S. led occupation of Iraq, it has created a powder keg of hatred of the west. The argument of "they hate our freedoms" is garbage. Osama is not sitting in a cave somewhere bitching about the Bill of Rights, or Paris Hilton crawling over a soapy BMW. The Iraqi people are not stupid, they know their resources are being drained by foreign companies for profits they never see, they know defending themselves will land them 6ft under or in Guantanomo, they know to fire back on a young scared American is likely death for one of them. Our troops know all of this, and do what they can to get home to friends and family. Defending our freedoms is one thing, forcing them on others is dictorial. Iraq will never find political comprimise while bullets are flying overhead, and their oil gets privatized by foreign fat cats. So, winning = democracy in Iraq? Agreed. Achieving it is where the division on this discussion begins. President Bush did not lie when he stood in front of the banner "Mission Accomplished", it was, Saddam was removed, future plans were un-accomplished at that point. Well, what do we do now?