Here's the problem. We're occupying their country and setting up a government for them, and we say "oh yeah don't worry, we're not
really occupying your country, we're just staying here until things are stable enough." To someone who lives in Iraq that sure seems like, "we're occupying your country."
Now I'm not saying we shouldn't help to keep order, or that we should just get the hell out of there ASAP, but we are very much occupying their country and even if it's for supposedly benevolent reasons you can't expect an occupied country to just lay down and be like "fine."
Originally Posted by antarius
Clarification. Everyone always says "After the war ended", but in reality it was "After the United States stopped offensive maneuvers in Iraq".
Not really the end of the war, just the end of the offensive push to take over the country.
It would seem logical to me that more people would die while standing around, than did while pushing through the desert with full air and ground support annihilating a defined enemy.
Yanno?
The phrase used by our own military and government was "end of major combat."
I do recall one other particular conflict in which we never had full air and ground support for purposes of annihilating a defined enemy...Vietnam.