Really, so we can't win totally so let's just burn it all down?  Okay, I'm playing Bill Buckley here and shouting stop.  That way leads madness.  Come on, Ymar.  You're a gamer.  You know how useless such things are.  That's the play of a gamer who can't think of anything better to do than attack because he sees his position as hopeless.  It isn't hopeless.  It's just freakin' insanely difficult.  We turned Iraq around with people jumping off the ship(SPain, Aus quit, UK is quitting).  So some Euro-weenie is scared of pissing of Moslems in his country?  Fine, we'll do it without them.  The Brits left Basra a $hithole with their COIN strategy(which sounds rather like strategies some are pushing, people we don't like), and yet it's now on a positive path.

It's much harder without them, it means we can't go elsewhere, but it can be done if we don't despair and go ona death ride because we can't think of another good play at the moment.

Tsk, tsk, Kat. 
 

And if they succeed at that, we'll have so spent our moral capital that you could make the argument to me that we have become such an inconstant ally, that we simply should disestablish the capability for offensive action and retreat to our own shores.

Not that it would work.  The busybodies would still be busy telling us what to do.  Feh.  I wish I was young and optimistic again.  Facing down the Russkis was simple work.