If we had continue to piss off the Iraqi people, the Anbar Awakening would never had happened.
If we had applied greater force early on, we could have left a lot sooner, thereby, not pissing of the Iraqis as much and never necessitating the Anbar Awakening.
Personally, I think we should have never gone after Iraq at all. However, If we were serious about remaking the Middle East we should have kept rolling after the fall of Baghdad and immediately invaded Iran. Iran would have fallen just as quickly at that time. No nuclear problem and the rest of the Middle East would have fallen into line pretty quickly after that. In fact, the world would be kissing our butts and would fear us. Now, they mock us and deride us. The people who run our country are morons and, I guess, now you can say at least 51% of our participating electorate is also. So, I suppose, we get the leadership that we deserve.