The fundamentalists in Washington DC want to turn the clock back to the 19th century; the fundamentalists in the Middle East want to turn the clock back to the 18th century. Neither side is particularly fond of real democracy; each would guiltlessly order its own troops to (even tactically) worthless deaths for the sake of “honor” or the purity of the cause.

This also isn’t a matter of “winning” or “losing.” Saddam will eventually disappear from the world stage; though a regime as internally repressive as his could easily survive after him, even with US backing. At this point, it’s become a matter of minimizing or stopping the meaningless carnage, and of halting the neocons’ dreams of empire abroad and their war against freedom at home.