Why can't our government learn this truth?

I love some of the answers here, especially the one that suggests every single person in Iraq has to die in order to prove that statement true.

Idiocy.

And your government, or rather the current administration knows the truth of it now, but doesn't want to admit it paid no attention to the lessons of history, ancient & modern...in planning the Iraq war.

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VICE PRES. CHENEY: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly and bloody battle with significant American casualties?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don't, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators.

NBC Meet the Press - March 16, 2003.

Ever heard of The American-Philippine War?

Unfortunately, that war is proof that a foreign invader can prevail against a domestic resistance willing to sacrifice everything. They didn't get their independence until we decided that we didn't want the Philippines anymore after World War II.

So True !

I think Ho Chi Minh & Company tried real hard to teach the US that lesson, but it never quite sunk in !

The big difference in Iraq, is that Bush / Cheney had this peachy idea, that once we rid these people of their tyrant, that they would fall at our feet from gratitude, and just start gushing cheap oil into our tankers as repayment !. Get Real Boys !

What they discovered, ( which everyone else on the planet knew ), is that this is one of those fractious nations, put together by European mandates, that houses at least three huge factions of people who's religions, lifestyles, and creeds have been at-odds for centuries, with wounds that will probably never heal.!

Things have changed, a few would go the distance. I am of the peace generation when pressed we would kill you with little thought which you don't see in movies. Look at Obama's followers how many soldiers do you see, most have not had a job been living off their parents. When you look at the people around you do you see fighters or something else.

History shows the exact opposit. Look at Alexander the Great, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, China in gerneral, WWII, WWI, the Spanish American War, and many other examples. Plus add to the mix many Iraqis and their government want us their and depend on us for protection and it turns out we are not an occupying force but a peace keeping force....

I think they already know that (or recently figured it out). The belief, or at least the story we were told as citizens, was that we'd be welcomed with open arms and kids would hand us flowers, etc.

The problem now is how to get out? As much as people might want to load everyone up and just leave, you have to phase people out and even when you do, the last people to leave will be in the greatest danger if things aren't remotely stabilized.

However, I tend to think they'd back off if we were withdrawing. Let's be realistic, we're unwanted and interfering with a civil war. That's not someplace we should be and it's nothing we can stop just that same as nobody would've been able to stop our civil war.

In order for those two to see the folly of their ways, we would have to suffer a massive military attack that we would be unable to repel because we have a disproportionately small standing military to protect our land.

We were foolish to dare to go up against Germany and Japan back in the 40s.

Because it isn't true. Through out history, the will of the people has often been overrun by occupying forces.

Based on that statement we shouldn't have been able to win WW2. The Nazis fought to nearly the last man standing. Besides, the assumption that al Qaeda is willing to fight to the last crazy jihadist is unproven.