The final U.S. combat brigade has left the country ahead of the August 31 deadline. But is the war over? Did we win? Listeners reacted strongly to this question via text message and on Facebook. Krishni Metivier wrote on our Facebook page,

"The war is not really over. Even if it was, there are no winners in war."

Via Facebook:

Mark Hershberger: What is victory, exactly? It was never defined by the previous administration. One could make an argument for "no" because nothing about the war played out the way its planners said it would.

Norris Dupré: Let's revisit this question in ~20 years.

Lyndon Dees: In the words of the WOPR computer: "Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

Deanne Bonner Simpson: Why is this question in the past tense? My husband is getting on a plane to Iraq today for a year deployment. If it's over, why isn't he at home playing outside with his kids? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, The Takeaway.

Kevin Stebleton: In '91, there was a call to march onto Baghdad. Military advisers warned Bush 41 of a multi-generation quagmire if we were to destabilize the region. Nothing had changed when Bush 43 invaded. While we may have won a military war, I think we achieved nothing

Lorrence Scott Mahaffy: Was winning the point?

Amanda Wooten-Ringo: No, I definitely agree that the war is not over. I think it would be premature to hang up the "Mission Accomplished" banners again. According to everything I have heard the US is still going to be in Iraq for a while training the Iraqi army.

Via text message:

From MI: We won but never should have gone there in the first place.

From Ann Arbor, MI: NO, as we should not have been THERE in the first place. A lot of good will and sympathy from the international community was lost due to the previous administration's misleading us with ever changing lies for our reasons for being there. For what ultimately ended up being a personal vendetta. Not only did we lose the war, but the "minds and hearts" of the people. Lastly, our actions undoubtedly created more animosity and an atmosphere to breed individuals like those who attacked us on 9/11.

Shawn from Okla.: We won it by any reasonable standard we toppled a dictator and freed a people but it was an expensive war in money life and morale now lets finish up in Asia.

From Okla.: No. Nothing is solved. The Taliban still rules

From Denver, CO: No! This is a war that was started wrong and was carried off even worse. We went in with no exit strategy. We fought at the risk of financial collapse, death of more than 6000 troops and soldiers who were used as a pawn in a chess game where no one wanted to admit "they missed it". Now these men and women are suffering from PTSD, mental health disorders and severe physical disabilities some will never recover from. We could have done better.

From Columbia, SC: Please. We can't qualify our reason for even going in to that war. A war that is not defined can not be one. Obama is doing the right thing in washing his hands there.

From Providence, RI: In a war that is not ours, we could never win.

From Lawrence, MA: Why isn't anyone talking about the Iraqi casualties?? Yes we lost over 4000 troops (!), but lancet survey says over 600,000, and opinion research business survey predicts over 1 million violent deaths as a result of this conflict. I'm ashamed to be an American.

From Pontiac, MI: In a word "no". But I don't think any war is "winnable" in modern times given the proliferation of weaponry and the state of weapons technology.

From Clarkston, MI: No way. All those lives lost, and for what? To reconstruct a country? Not worth it.

From Atlanta, GA: No it was unnecessary and an attack on Islam. War is always a lose-lose.

And Tom called 877-8-MYTAKE from Detroit to say:

This day just reminds me what a tragic waste of life and limbs and resources this boondoggle has been for a useless, pointless effort.

Keep the conversation going. Add your comments on The Takeaway website, call in to 877-8-MYTAKE, check out our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter.