The "War" in Iraq

Folks like to say we aren't "winning" the war in Iraq. These people need to look up the definition of the word "war." The war in Iraq has been over for quite some time. What we have now is a reconstruction/peace-keeping mission. So, all you candidates out there; stop commenting on the war as though it's still going on. Small scale guerrila insurgencies and an occupying army do not a war make.

I figure we had three explicit purposes for going to war with Iraq:

1)Remove a murderous tyrant (Hussein) from power: Mission Accomplished.
2)Destroy the Iraq regime's power to make war (including destroying any existent WMDs): Mission Accomplished.
3)Enforce U.N. and U.S. sanctions (and, perhaps, send a message to the rest of the Middle East, if not the world, that you better tow the line or face destruction): Mission Accomplished.

There you go. We won the Iraq war pretty handily. Unfortunately, we suck at reconstructing a nation of hostile foreigners. Which should come as no surprise, as it's impossible. We shouldn't have even have tried. Maybe establish a base in Iraq or in neighboring countries to keep an eye on things, and get the hell out. Maybe not the right thing to do, but attempting to rebuild a foreign nation's infrastructure just isn't feasible.

**Also, soldiers are not the appropriate people to police and manage a civilian populace. In fact, I'm pretty certain they are exactly the wrong type of people, as training for war and training for reconstruction are polar opposites.