Not really working in Afghanistan either
Afghanistan's government is basically in charge of one city. Much of the country is falling under the sway of narcotic rings, as the opium trade ramps up; currently heroin is their number one export, earning more hard currency than all other exports combined. In the meantime, the infrastructure outside the capital city is still in ruins, and falling into worse condition as it continues to take a pounding from various internecine skirmishes.
If the US had taken care of Afghanistan (and OBL) properly, and now wanted to clean up Iraq, there'd be a lot less hassle, a lot more goodwill from other parties in Iraq (as the US would have shown that it wasn't only acting in its bottom line interest), and from the various neighbours for exactly the same reason.
They should've used overwhelming force in Afghanistan from the get go, pacified the place with several hundred thousand US troops, rebuilt the infrastructure post haste, and then handed the country off to Karzai et al and said "here's the base conditions for lifting yourselves out of misery; whether you do so or not is up to you." Further, they should've undertaken a massive communications campaign in Afghanistan making that point to everyone in the countryside, so it would be very clear to the Street in Afghanistan exactly who should be blamed if it had gone all pear shaped after that.
The whole ME project that these folks have undertaken has been a big botch job from start to finish.
