This horrible bait-and-switch war

Alas, St. Petraeus has uttered what is no doubt the truth. There will be worse times before there are better times. That to create a better (fill in the blanks) Iraq the US will have to sacrifice (i.e., lots of young men and women must die). Of course, he declines to define the scope of the effort that will be needed. Not even ranges. Ten to fifteen years? 10,000 American dead? Paul Wolfowitz demonstrated that saying this war would be difficult was tantamount to treason. The "surge" was supposed to be temporary (until August, 2007, as I recall) and limited. All the promises have proved false. The whole war has been a horrendous bait-and-switch in which the only winners have been private contractors, like, say, Halliburton?