about four years ago, in a bout of prescience, I wrote:

While everybody is wondering whether the US should invade Iraq or even contemplating when, Fallows of the Atlantic has a bit of sense by asking “do we really want to invade Iraq”, giving his arguments assuming if we do and win, what the hell are they supposed to do with Iraq?

In a comparison to the case of China invading Taiwan, which is arguably a lot more justified in terms of sovereignty than the US invading Iraq, this very same question of what the hell to do with the invaded country, full of terrorists, presumably if you do not kill off every single citizen, is a big deterrent for actual invasion.

Maybe the US should give this some thought. Either that, or kill off every human being in Iraq.