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A second reason is that, with regard to protest actions, we have dumbed down our message to the ultimate demand "Bring the troops home now!"
I have no problem with calling to end the occupation now. But we have to realize that even people who don't support the war don't look to us as some kind of spiritual authority. Nobody cares about our demands. People will listen to our arguments, information, and plans, but no longer to our ultimate demand.
We need responses to immediate political developments and transitional positions and campaigns. Otherwise, we appear out of touch; even now, as they've raided Samarra and started bombing Sadr City regularly, we have no response.
Some groups have tried to imply that transitional demands imply dilution of the anti-imperialist agenda. This is as silly as saying that demands for living wage legislation imply dilution of an anti-capitalist agenda.
Everything that happens in Iraq should build our base. We must mobilize against bombing of civilian areas and build our base. We must mobilize against torture and build our base. Right now, we must mobilize against Bush administration plans to manipulate the January elections in Iraq (and the upcoming election in Afghanistan).* Any election held under military occupation is illegitimate. But we can't stop the elections in Iraq. Thus, we have to mobilize to ensure that the elections, while remaining illegitimate, are as free and fair as possible. In the process, we bring into the movement people who believe in democracy but were unsure about the occupation; we may even derail plans to fix the elections.
The occupation of Iraq will be a long struggle. The election will be over in a month, but the occupation is with us for years to come. We can't affect it unless we build steadily over time. Mere repetition of "Bring the troops home now" won't do it.
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* about this, see Mahajan's posts at: <http://www.empirenotes.org/september04.html#28sep041> <http://www.empirenotes.org/september04.html#27sep041> <http://www.empirenotes.org/shamelections.html>