>>Subtract about 100,000 who died in the process.
>
>Ok, 25,974,906 people.
>
>In other words, for every Iraqi that died, according to your statistic, 250 more are free.
>
>Is that worth it?
>
>You know what, I don't know. I never expect I will know, and I would never expect anyone else to know.
>
>These types of decisions fall well beyond the wisome and insight of a single person.
>
>On the other hand, these types of decisions are made in the world, and the decision as to whether the Iraq invasion was worth it has been made.
>
>I don't think there's much we can do about it.
>
>Do you?

We can only do our best to bring the decision making process and those involved to the light of day. The sooner, the better. Waiting 30 years usually does nobody too much good, because anyone involved is usually dead, retired or untouchable by that time.

>On the other hand, let's put this into more perspective. Are the 25million the only Iraqis that have been freed? Or will many future generations of Iraqis be free now? And what if this spread throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Africa?
>
>In that, case, it would be right to say that within my lifetime alone, perhaps a 100 million, or a billion have been freed at the cost of 100,000 lives.

Freed? From what, and into what? I somehow don't see the replacement of a dictatorship with a theocracy as liberation, regardless of the theocracy's prefix.

>Again, is that worth it? I don't know, but I think the factors are larger than we can understand, and that is why I think you're wrong to know with so much certainty that it wasn't worth it.
>
>I can't say for sure it was worth it. But it has happened, and whatever happens next cannot ignore that reality.

As I said elsewhere in this thread, not yet. Maybe in a few years or decades there'll be a different social arrangement there which will be to the benefit of their people. So far, I don't see one coming to be.