Good point! We started falling behind in this engagement long before the number of troops to send in had been decided upon. We started losing when our satellites showed evidence of numerous convoys making the trek across the desert to Syria and we did nothing to find out what was in those trucks. We started losing when we gave the enemy months and months to prepare for our invasion while we went back to the UN for the umpteenth time. We started losing when we didn't make it abundantly clear to Syria and Iran that we would not tolerate interference from them with our mission in Iraq. We started losing when we didn't extract a heavy price from Turkey for going back on its agreement to let us access Iraq by way of their country. Then we continued losing when we couldn't bring ourselves to deal quickly and decisively with the plethora of private armies that started to pop up everywhere. We have simply never employed the techniques that, although not politically correct, go a long way in convincing an enemy that it's in their best interest to cooperate. We could have put a million troops in there, but if they were bound by the same rules of engagement that those who were there were forced to accept nothing would have changed.
How easy it is to forget. How about the extensive "No fly Zones" we had LONG established? There is no way in pergatory weapons left Iraq unnoticed. No way! Blackbird.