Where did the US and its allies go wrong in Iraq post war? Why was Germany such a success in contrast?

ummmm i think we won the war, but what hes talking about is the insurgency. after actually being able to expeirience more than just cnn and internet blogs i feel pretty comfortable in what led to the problems, #1 the fact that a huge percentage of insurgents are not iraqi, they are foreign fighters, people who hate america and traveled to iraq to "do their part" #2 abu ghraib, not saying it was soley responsible but it was the first major thing to show the iraqi people as a whole and the world that america isnt perfect and that we have retards in our military too,(before you wanna be motivators get all pissy, im a marine, im speaking from experience, we have the smartest best americans, a large majority, then we have a small amount of retarded people that give a bad image and negative stereotypes in the military) it was the start that gave the enemies a chance to build on. #3 it is a completely different time and culture from 1940's germany. and it wasnt such a great success, there was an insurgency after the occupation as well, not a well publicized but totally present. overall though think about it, two back to back horrible wars, months and months of living in total fear from bombing and air raids, family members dead, going from being the absolute power in europe and almost the world, to being the one country the entire world hated, and now had conquered. they probably just wanted to forget the whole thing happened, also alot of the decisions were not made by the german people, but rather the generals feild marshals and other high ranking officials. they recognized that they were beaten, they noticed that unlike iraq it wasnt just the us and uk that were against them, it was pretty much the whole damn world. over all what you need to notice is that these are just two situations that you cant compare and ask why it worked in germany and why not iraq.

Germany was bombed, quite literally, back into the 19th Century, plus they faced the stark choice between joining the Free West or living under the totalitarian East.

The concept of "Total War" is no longer deemed appropriate in our enlightened age. Sadly, without Total War there cannot be "Total Victory."

Where there is insurgency, there is instability and the spectre of "defeat."

Snowcone is correct. There was an insurgency following the European portion of WWII. That being said, it was quickly resolved by the defeated Germans. Eisenhower, et al., told the new German government to take care of it, or we would start over (Having just nuked Japan, the Germans weren't about to let us do that). The Germans took care of it on their own.

...what ? (Germany, after WW2, was bombed into rubble and dirt !) ...Iraq, by contrast has been functioning all the time. (and that's not really "contrast") as Germany was an Industrial Nation and Iraq has some Oil fields but mostly dirt farmers and sand dune wanders...

You need to read your history books boy. there was guerrilla warfare for many years after the war was over. The nazi party is still around today in Germany but under ground.

America won the war in Iraq and is in the process of withdrawing. What are you talking about?

How quick we forget. There was guerrilla warfare for many years after the war was over.

Don't question the authority of Bush!!!!1 He is supreme god!