[jaguar]

Goal (though this admin has put more effort into getting the oil flowing than getting power and water to people) may be the same, methods used are abhorrent. In Iraq the elections are frankly, irrelevent, no matter what happens the outcome is unlikely to be democratic - if it is the US will balk at the government and *cough* modify the result anyway. What matters is whether there are basic services and beyond that, jobs and slowly, over decades, you might get somewhere. Invading places isn't the solution, the solution is to gradually empower the people to choose their own government. Democracy isn't the answer either for that matter, singapore runs quite nicely on a virtual dictatorship. Economic growth and stability are the key. If there is an example here it is, oddly enough, Iran. Sure, the current reform effort may have hit for now, a brick wall but wait, next time, my money is on success.