General Franks coined it as, "Catastrophic Success". In hindsight, they made the right decision for the mission. Bypassing the Fedayeen was a necessary evil due to the reasons you cited. Get inside the ring and fight from the inside out as quickly as possible. The problem was that the Executive Branch needed to believe that the Iraqi security forces would be available to fill the security void. They weren't available. This gave the insurgency the ability to set up house. The problem with the original plan, altered due to no 4th Infantry, was that it got us into Iraq to a fault. Later, it became an experiment with certain areas using their own tactics. Some successful and some not. Then came the eye-for-an-eye. Iraqi violence. Scores to settle. All the while the terrorists using their own tactics to create trouble. To this day there is still not enough troops to provide training, improvements to the already shattered infrastructure, security of the population and so forth. The answer from Washington? Make the Iraqi government hustle. Something that is a little different in their culture and an important tactic in our western culture.