We've done it at the expense of American lives. Also,

I hope you're right but doubt there's that much that went into it. I've grown too cynical to give either party the benefit of the doubt in these kinds of circumstances, and just default to the concept that their strategies are based purely on politics and ideology and not something more strategic until proven otherwise. Also, if your theories are true, I would think we'd do something like temporarily move the troops to a more fortified and secure location where they're not sitting ducks in the middle of the desert. If your theories are true and we're avoiding conflict because of something more important and imminent, we've now done it on the backs of 3 dead soldiers.