You have a conservative presidental administration, a conservative majority legislature, and a conservative supreme court.
If anyone is to blame for the military not having the Rules of engagement you need over in Iraq it's them. They know giving you guys the right ROEs would result in them losing elections. Gotta keep everything in control. Presidents have been doing that forever. Bush's behavior is just like the Presidents during the Vietnam war. No one wanted to pull out because it would make them look like wimps politically. If Bush just pulled out of Iraq right now it would make the Republicans look weak. So it probably won't happen.
As to who told us the war was going to be quick and easy. We heard the military saying it would not be quick and easy loud and clear all along. But Bush and Rumsfeld were certainly telling us a different story.
About the only thing you can blame liberals for is the democrats in congress being such pussies that they voted for the war rather then stand up for what their constituents believe.
While there is plenty of "Anybody but Bush" sentiment out there... believe me no one is happy with the Democratic party's behavior.
I suspect we will still be in Iraq 2 years from now. If the Republicans lose the White House you will either see a very fast withdrawl from Iraq (6 months?) or you will see another 4 years of Iraq. As soon as the Democratic President got far enough into his term to have to worry about re-election, he will decide not to pull out of Iraq so he will not look weak on defense.
You can complain about liberals all you want but bottom line is liberals have very little power in government right now so it is very hard for anything to be blamed on them. Anything the Republicans are united on, they can do. Anything the Democrats want to do requires convincing some Republicans to help them.