[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

But how much of this is really mega-trends shifting geopolitics rather than US policy?

A huge problem here is we started a war without a game plan for when the big gears started to turn.

Bush eventually (too late, but better than never) did have a plan. It was called The Surge. It was an astonishing, spectacular, success. Listen to Obama's own remarks about the Iraq he inherited.

So your synopsis is wrong. The problem is that Obama demolished that plan by pulling out, and by pulling out of Libya and of not doing anything in Syria.