Jonathan Freedland writes in the Guardian how "Peaceniks lost the war but changed the shape of battle."
As I and others have stated - dissent and cynicism is very powerful and useful. By demanding the government be more accountable to us about their reasons for war, their methods of war, and so on, may very well make them make better decisions in how they execute their warplans. So yes, we're at war and nothing the public can say now will stop it. But we can at least demand our leaders be accountable to us about why and how.
They still need to fill us in on the Why anyways. Short of imperialism or sincere hope that "democracy will spread like a domino effect throughout the middle east" (which is doubtful), our use of force in this region still remains unaccounted for in light of the global picture.
Whether our leaders care to admit to their imperialistic bend, the world is perceiving us as such. This is a dangerous road, because imperialism and republicanism (as in Roman republic, not G.W. Bush Republican) seldom (if ever) match. Just as America threw off the shackles of the great empire of its day (Britain), and as India and the eastern european countries did the same, so will the world of us if we continue down this dangerous path.