Was it all for nothing?

What is the point? So now more service people have to die so that these deaths weren't in vain? I must be blind because I just don't see how Iraq, the US, or the people of either country are benefiting from this debacle.

NO QUARTER: WHAT GEORGE BUSH SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CASEY SHEEHAN: "Maybe George Bush could clarify why these men died. According to several press reports, they were attacked and killed by forces loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. And where is al-Sadr today? He's a player in the Shiite community in Iraq which is on the verge of installing Islam as the basis of government in Iraq. In effect, Casey and his comrades were killed by people whose leaders are on the verge of taking control in Iraq. It would be one thing if George Bush could tell Casey's mom and the moms of the other boys who died that their sons gave their lives to create a secular Iraq. But we now know that is not true. They gave their lives in a cause that is allowing some Islamic extremists loyal to Iran to play a major role in the 'new' Iraq."