[mburbank]

Okay, so it took us 12 years to form a somewhat stable democracy. nd we were better positioned for it than maybe anybody on earth. It's hard stuff. So, you figure what for the Iraqis? Twenty four years? Thirty six years? Forever?

I think as long as we're their any form of government that forms that we support militarily looks llike our puppet wether it is or not. Puppets give insurgencies life.

And as thugish as sadaam was, his death toll is starting to look paltry compared to what they've got now. It's all very well for us to sit comfortably in America and say the Iraqis are better off without Sadaam. What do the Iraqis think? What would you think? "I may not have sanitary water or electricity or health care and there's a very good chance every time I walk out the door I won't come back in one piece, but thank God the dictator is gone and I can express myself freely."

I'm not being flip, I don't know. I would think the average Iraqi might well be developing a certain nostaligia for Sadaam.

It seems like a variation on the old "Destroying the vilage to save it".

We got good news and bad news. The good news is, we toppled your dictator and now you are free. The bad news is we failed to stop your country from crumbling in the process and we haven't got any real ideas about how to put it together again.