trekrok and Chuckie - precisely my point, we were "told" one thing, while our "leaders" did something else. Instead of going there, killing people and breaking things like a military should we lingered for 20 years. Now the very people we were fighting against are back in control. Even worse china is better off, gaining access to oil, gemstones, precious metals and rare earths. There are many similarities with Ukraine at an accelerated pace (over Iraq and Afghanistan) and the much stronger possibility of Nuclear Conflict. Zelenski is getting a 0%, $0 "loan" and the only real investment is the Gov't (ours) is buying war goods from US companies.No, the only reason we stayed in the Middle East was to generate continued profits for the 'military/industrial' complex.
The first year of a conflict is to 'field test' new weapon platforms. The second year is to test the upgrades found to be needed from the first year. After that, it's just keeping the production going and the shareholder happy.