Originally Posted by FunkMachine

As an experiment, by definition the outcome was not known when the war was started.

The war was started with good intentions and certain points must be borne in mind:

1. Democracy is the highest poilitcal system known so far. Democracies do not go to war against each other. Therefore, the Middle East is in dire need of democratisation.

2. With modern global communications, air travel, ballistic missile systems, etc, it now matters what goes on on the other side of the world. 150 years ago, it didn't matter if some people 8000 miles away were killing each other as there's no way the violence could ever reach you. Now it can. So if someone 8000 miles away says they want to harm you, you have to take them out. It's called the survival instinct. It's like if someone in the next town repeatedly said they wanted to kill your family, you would tell the police (the UN) then if the police (UN) did nothing then you can either await your fate or take matters into your own hands (kill that person yourself/ invade that country).

3. The $$$ issue was part of it, as everyone would make more money (and therefore be less inclined to start shit) if the whole world was made up of democratic capitalist societies.

4. Reasons for the war: regime change (successful), as a trigger to inspire other democracy movements throughout the world (this has been successful so far), pursuit of WMD (whether they exist or not, it was thought that they did), to fight jihadis on their own turf (becoming more successful), put oil reserves into the hands of a responsible state (on the way to being a success). Possible other "bonus" reasons: surround Iran, surround China.

5. Having the benefit of being able to comprehend to some degree the lessons of history, it is better to confront a problem earlier than later. If Iraq had not been invaded, those nukes which probably will explode in Western capitals at some point would have happened sooner rather than later.

Have the US done a good job in iraq? The US has done a reasonably good job. I think they underestimated the long term problems though. The main blame must be placed at the feet of those who were bribed to oppose the war, namely France, Russia and China, who stood to lose their retainers should Iraq and the Middle East ever become responsible states.

I feel sorry for the US. Even though President Bush is something of an idiot, if it wasn't for the US, the rest of us would be in such dire straits. The Nazis then the communists would have swept through Europe, Asia and Africa. And yet so many people around the world (especially here in Europe) portray the US as an evil empire. These are sad time we live in, where for so many people, black is white and white is black. And for that we must thank socialism, second only to Islam for making people into unintelligent, unthinking robots.

If the world was full of good people, we would not only be invading Iraq. It would also be made clear to the leaders of Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iran, North Korea, et al that either they hand power to the people or face immediate assassination. But of course, the world is not full of good people, and the US cannot be expected to do everything themselves. On one side we have the socialists and communists who are allied with the Islamofascists with the goal of destroying wealth and personal freedom and on the other, a bunch of capitalists and moralists who are too affraid to tackle the problems in case they get called "racist" or "imperialist". Such a shame. In my country, a law is about to be passed making it a criminal offense to criticise religion (especially Islam). These really are sad times. We're at a crossroads.

Well that's the end of my [sometimes off-topic] rant.