Top Ten Lessons of the Iraq War

This is from Stephen Watlt's article in March 20 Foreign Policy

1. The U.S. lost.  The revisionists will have you believe otherwise.
2.  It's not that hard to hijack the U.S. into war.
3. The U.S. gets into big trouble when the public and our leadership do not have an open debate about the course to take.
4. The secularism and middle class character of Iraqi society was overrated.
5.Don't listten to ambitious exiles. (Amhed Chalabi for example)
6.It is very hard to improvise an occupation.
7. Don't be surprised when adversaries act to defend their own interest and in ways we don't like.
8. Counterinsurgency warfare is ugly and invariably leads to war crimes, atrocities, and abuse.
9. Better "planning" may not be the answer.
10. Rethink the U.S. grand strategy, not just tactics or methods.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/20/top_ten_lessons_of_the_iraq_war?page=full