What went wrong in Iraq?

What went wrong in Iraq? For weeks now I've been reading columns and articles and blog posts on what went wrong in Iraq. You know what? I don't care what went wrong in Iraq. A little reflection can be useful in assessing where you are and where you need to go, but this country has gone into full out self flagellation mode. What went wrong in Iraq is no longer the important question. The important question now is 'How do we proceed from here?' As long as we hang our heads and continue to look back on things we can no longer do anything about, though, the less likely it is we'll answer that more important question. Unfortunately, it takes less intellectual effort and less courage to look back and dissect recent history than it does to look forward and develop a vision and chart a course. Because of that, I suspect we will continue to wallow in the 'what went wrong' question and continue to get nowhere with Iraq.