I'd agree, now, that leaving Iraqi leadership as it was may have been a serious mistake. But I do understand why our troops were pulled out. Without it being said, the question was a "lesser of two evils," just like you indicated for Franco, during WWII.

If we'd overthrown Hussein himself, there's little doubt that Iraq would have fallen into the hands of fundamentalist Muslims. We'd have another Iran, or Afghanistan on our hands, and the bloc of totally "anti-Western" countries would grow stronger. That's something that we have to stop, and we're seeing these attempts to take over nations even in Southeast Asia happening every day.

The Fundamentalists don't care if they are a minority. They want total control, and anyone who doesn't agree with that philosophy..... well... we saw what the Taliban did on a futbol field in Afghanistan, didn't we? They don't rule through love and understanding, they do it through force and violence.

Another point in regards to our not taking Baghdad. Our Muslim allies asked us to stop. We honored their request as well. I believe they foresaw a new regime that they couldn't deal with. It concerns them as much as it does us.

Your explanation is fine. Thank you.

Wolf