How to win the war in iraq

There is only one way to win hte war in iraq and that is to take control of hte definition of winning. At present the US administratin have effectively allowd thsoe who oppose them to define winning - partly a result of starting a war they did not really have enough support to start. Basically htey start with "we will remove sadam" but it has morphed into "create a little USA in the middle east".
If the US saw iraq as a threat it needs to define its objective as defeating iraq - this was achieved very easily. But as your objectives get more complex it gets more and more difficult to win the war as long as your defeat is defined as "the enemy preventing you from fully achieving your objective".

So what to do?
Have tightly defined objectives - go into the country if you have to (only if you have to) achieve them, and then leave. Be sure of your objectives before you start, and make sure htey can be completed in a reasonable time frame - After you start, dont leave your objectives up for public debate and DEFINITLY dont make any changes to them after the fact.

Even If the US is feeling lost now it is never to late to start doing it right.