[IrishHand]

Be serious now - do you realize how arrogant and ignorant your first paragraph was?

Let me assure you, ANY will imposed on how the Iraqi nation is run would be better than that of the monster they've got running things now, who imposes HIS will on everyone and everything on pain of torture and death.
I'm happy you have such an intimate knowledge of life in Iraq. It's truly amazing to me that someone living on US soil who's sole source of information about Iraq is western media could have such a deep understanding of people's lives in a vastly different country. In all seriousness, you're basically saying that Hussein is the worst possible leader the Iraqis could possibly have. That's ridiculous, as I'm sure you have to understand. There are countries in far more dire straights economically, socially and morally than Iraq - they just don't happen to be sitting on a vast supply of black gold.

North Korea perhaps isn't as immediate a threat
Ah...that's right. I forgot that Iraq was on the verge of attacking the US. Of course, the reality is that neither of them is a "threat" to us, per se. We just like to throw our weight around internationally - much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

When we get a decent missile shield, one capable of handling with China's 25 or so nukes
Again, I'm thrilled that your knowledge of other countries is so amazing. I once considered travelling to China to count their nukes, but decided instead to go to a Vegas for the weekend. Seriously - our "missile shield" program is easily the single largest waste of money that our military has encouraged in at least 20 years. The most perfect "missile shield" program in the world wouldn't stop a nuke-laden cargo ship from parking at NY or LA and starting some fireworks - to say nothing of the option of transporting the nuke onto an 18-wheeler and driving it wherever you want for the light display.

Conventional warfare against the US is a thing of the past. It's been over 100 years since anyone or anything attacked the US on continental US soil. It's not going to happen in the next 100 years - the military disparity is simply too great. If you're 5'3", a buck-twenty-five, you don't walk over to a 1990 Mike Tyson's house to start a fight because you don't like his foreign policy.