Good news -- the insurgency is over! Now we need a new strategy for the Iraq War.

[Rank amateur]

However, I am interested in understanding it.

Why did people with nothing to lose personally react with such hostility, for so long, to allegations that we faced problems, even when those allegations were made in the name of fixing the problems and not just running away?

Human nature and group dynamics. Things that happen in any board room - look at how the music industry responded to MP3 - multiplied by 10 because the issue became political.