Analysis: Iraq 'Victory' Sites Lowered

Gen. David Petraeus testifies on the future course of the war in Iraq while appearing before a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Relations Committee, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/\Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

WASHINGTON -- As President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus struggle to make the case that yet more time is needed for victory in Iraq, the goal for success no longer resembles the high hopes the architects of the 2003 invasion had in mind.

Bush's decision to wage war against Saddam Hussein after the Sept. 11 attacks _ six years ago Tuesday _ led to many miscalculations and mistakes. Critics contend those mistakes continue today.

Bush not only wanted to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and overthrow a brutal dictator but to create a pro-Western democracy in the heart of the Arab world.

The "victory" goal now is to exit with the least amount of additional bloodshed or lasting damage possible _ either to Iraq or to the United States.

"Our experience in Iraq has repeatedly shown that projecting too far into the future is not just difficult, it can be misleading and even hazardous," Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told a House hearing on Monday

His comments came as he testified that Bush's troop buildup has led to measurable successes and should allow a reduction in troop levels by next summer. But it was also a telling commentary on the history of the conflict.

Almost nothing the Bush administration has said about Iraq has panned out.

There were no weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqis did not welcome American troops as "liberators" but as foreign occupiers.

The mission wasn't accomplished when Bush proclaimed an end to major combat from the deck of an aircraft carrier on May 1, 2003. Far from it. More than 3,700 members of the U.S. military have died since the war started in March 2003. Only the Revolutionary War and the Vietnam War have lasted longer.

Oil revenues have yet to allow post-Saddam Iraq to sustain itself financially. Billions of U.S. tax dollars are being spent to subsidize the fragile Iraqi government and economy.

A new constitution and national elections did not lead to a stable government that could "govern, sustain and defend itself," as Bush repeatedly intones.