The thing is, they weren't willing to wait and keep on putting on the pressure, and see whether it was going to be possible to achieve a satisfactory outcome without war. Perhaps that wouldn't have beenm possible - but it seems pretty clear that one reason for pushing ahead with the war was a fear that, if they didn't move quickly, the justifications for the war would be eliminated. (And of course the electoral clock was ticking as well.)

I am sure there are a good number of people among exiled Iraqis who saw war as the right way and the necessary way, as there often were among exiles from Eastern Europe during the Cold War. I can see why they might think that way, and in their circumstances I can readily imagine doing the same. But what has happened to Iraq so far, and what is happening now, and looks like happening in the future, does not look very likely to pan out at all well.

I think one very likely outcome will be that, at some point, Washington will redefine this whole exercise as a kind of punitive expedition; it will just pull out, and leave Iraq to sort itself out, in circumstances far worse than could have been achieved by a forceful carrot and stick operation, without war.