Replies instream....

>>In what way have we improved things in Iraq?
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>We removed a dictator from power, along with his cronies. Remember, the Iraqi Baath party was Sunni, the minority population in Iraq. Hussein was responsible for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the repression of the Kurds, the near destruction of the Marsh Arabs...should I go on? That threat has been removed.
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It is still a mess, and probably more dangerous to be an Iraqi now than it was 2.5 years ago. Saddam may have been (was) a brutal dictator, but the country was not a breeding ground for terrorists and hotheads from all over.

>> This government will not hold and the country will dissolve in civil war the moment we depart. Some accomplishment.
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>That remains to be seen. I think history will prove you wrong.
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We'll see.

>>It was foolish in the extreme to think that a mistrusted foreign power would introduce democracy to a region that has no tradition of democracy whatsoever. At gunpoint. Oh, THAT will sway some hearts and minds.
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>And what, praytell, would you suggest? That we have left that madman in power? With a chance at true political freedom practically nil?

There are loony tunes in power all over the world. (Including one from your home town [lol]). We can't, and don't, remove all of them with unprovoked military force. If we really cared only about removing despots who are a threat to ourselves and others, North Korea would have been a lot better place to start than Iraq. Saddam was a threat to his own people but he was never a threat to us.