this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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They didn't, either time. But reality got in the way of the meme so OP ignored it.
The first Iraq war was an unqualified success. There's really no way around that. Should they have gone the whole way and removed Saddam from power? Maybe. But the goal of the war was to protect Kuwait and that goal was accomplished.
The second Iraq war was stupid, unnecessary, messy, pointless, badly mismanaged, and came at a staggeringly high cost. But it was successful. They achieved the regime change they wanted and ultimately created a puppet state in the Middle East. They're using Iraqi bases right now in their attacks on Iran, something that would not possible if that war had been a failure.
Doesn't make it a good idea. Getting what you want isn't great if you massively overpay for it.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, absolutely counts as a loss. The US got nothing that they wanted - it didn't even lead to the death of Bin Laden since he was hiding out in Pakistan - and wasted a tonne of lives and resources to ultimately just put the country back in the hands of the Taliban and give them a whole bunch of military hardware.
Oh, so winning the US is having a "quick" war turn into a 20 year quagmire that kills over a million people that leads entire parts of the country under local and tribal governance where no central US puppet ever gained control is a success? You're a fucking idiot
Iraq was a massive failure in policy, in execution and in human death toll. If you think the Americans came out of that victorious you are literally a moron. Just because they have bases doesn't mean they won, they stalemated at best and are still paying for an occupation that is going nowhere that is leading to a bigger regional failure in progress.
Death to America. You are a propagandized fool and tool of empire.
Yankees really are savages, that's not the reason why the Iraq wars were "not a good idea" or why it's counted as a failure.
Death to Amerikkka