What happened to victory in Iraq?

More than three years after victory was first declared in Iraq, Americans are left thinking, "Now what?" We got rid of Saddam Hussein, but the Bush administration's narrow focus centered around deposing Hussein overwhelmed all clear thoughts as to how to replace the old government with a fully functional democracy satisfying for all dissident ethnic Iraqi groups. As a consequence, the battle rages on, and the debate among influential Americans continues around whether American troops should leave immediately, stay the course, or partition the Iraqi government into three separate democracies to eleviate the essential civil war that is ravaging the region. These are some pretty major issues to be discussing three years beyond victory. These are some pretty major issues that should have been discussed well before the invasion began. At this point the United States really has no choice other than to stay in the region in hopes of building Iraqi securtiy to the point of self-preservation. We bear a large part of the responsibility for the current instability in the region, and although the United States frequently enjoys screwing over other countries when it is in our self-interest only to leave them to clean up the mess we made, such a policy at this stage of the game in Iraq would be inappropriate at the least but more likely devastating.