What is everyone's thought on how America HELPED democratize Germany, Japan and Italy? In hindsight were those "good" decisions? Did the Allied forces (and specifically America because it was a majority of US funds that were used to help construct those new democracies) have any choice but to do it? What would the World look like had the US not assisted in that endeavor.
It certainly sickens me when I see US soldiers and citizens being killed. But, look back over a year ago when many people were asking (paraphrasing and yes it is a sick question) "How many US soldiers would you be willing to "give up" in order to see Sadam overthrown and a democracy in Iraq?" The numbers were usually well into the thousands. I myself thought that we would lose a number that was similar to the CIA projected number of 10k.
But aren't all these arguments subject to the end result. If Iraq can't be "democratized" because of history, religion, conditioning and tradition then the US going in would have been a disaster whether we lost 1 person or 100,000. If the US is successful then in 20 years this will be a successful campaign no matter how many losses. So, I believe the ends really do justify the means - in hindsight of course.
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