As far as US opinion goes, james K is simply wrong. A steady two thirds of US citizens believe the war was a mistake, want the US to withdraw immediately. Most are proud of their troops, but that’s quite a different thing. US disapproval of the war has been a solid two thirds for the last three years - the surge hasn’t changed the numbers one iota

Maybe i’m wrong about the Chaco war - it might have been the follow up one, the war of the triple alliance, in which Paraguay took on bolivia, brazil and argentina, and lost 90% of its male population between the ages of 18 and 40….now that was a boo-boo…

Just for the archives, the guy who started the Chaco War was the president of Bolivia at the time, Daniel Salamanca.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Salamanca

But typical of your arguments of personal incredulity.

It is true that a majority of Americans think the war a ‘mistake’ ie. there were no weapons of mass destruction found and American lives and fortunes have therefore been spent on an apparent fallacy.

That patently does not translate to them being “ashamed” nor does it imply that they fail to recognise the achievements in Iraq. Iraq is turning into a democracy. The shoe chucker under Saddam would by now have been assassinated. Largely the US has paid the bill in lives and moolah whilst the rest of the world stood by on the sidelines and snidely commentated. Has any President been so reiled so reviled except Nixon? And Bush never did anything provably wrong. He didn’t cover up an illegal break-in, try to sell a Senate seat or even have oral sex with an intern in the White House (and then claim it wasn’t sex).

And the WMDs: “Bush lied and people died.” Or did he? If he did, then so did those many dozens of Congress people including Democrats and other international leaders working off the same information.

Easy pickings …’Bush bashing’ …. but ultimately puerile and cowardly.

things aren’t all that great in baghdad after six years- it’s still dangerous to get around, there’s still no regular utilities (water, electricity and the like) and one always runs the chance of getting blown up anywhere where crowds gather. great situation to be “happy” about, and easy for you to suggest is better than before. (rolls eyes)

it’s going to take YEARS before things get to any sort of “normality” in iraq, if they ever do… just like america is never going to be the same again after the last eight terrible years… ever since dubya got in with all his personnel grotesqueries (rumsfeld, pearl, rove et al ad nauseum *shiver*) america is going the way of the soviet union and it only took 20 years and the hubris of a dumbed-down country led by an imbecile to bring it down…

oh, and before anyone suggests I might not know what i’m talking about — I’m an American and I’m disgusted with what they’ve done to the country