Has America Failed in Iraq?

In a number of specific respects, the United States has failed in Iraq. We failed to plan effectively for the postwar era. We did not put in nearly enough troops to secure Iraq once Baghdad fell. Despite numerous warnings, we failed to anticipate the rise of an insurgency mobilizing both secular nationalist and religious fundamentalist sentiments, with extensive funding and support by surviving Baathist diehards. We left the borders wide open to infiltration by foreign jihadists who have come to offer themselves up for suicidal terror in Iraq, or - as we have learned recently from a leaked CIA report - to be trained for terrorist attacks on Europe and the United States. We didn't secure the weapons depots.