[andyfox]

"You guys will be shown to be on the wrong side of history (as the Left nearly always is)."

Depends what you mean by "the Left." Communism was/is clearly on the wrong side of history. But if you mean the Democratic Party, i.e., the left side of America's mainstream political specturm, it has clearly been on the correct side of history in our country. It fought the Cold War (dragging the conversative, isolationist Right Republicans along kicking and screaming) and the Civil Rights Movement and oversaw the making of America into the mightiest political and economic power the world has ever seen.

I think it's far too early to tell whether the rebuilding of Iraq is going to be successful or not. The original post is useful as an antidote to the rose-colored optimism of others who claim things are going swimmingly. Since our government is on the "swimmingly" side, a view of the other side of the argument is important. Far too early to tell which side is closer to the truth. One suspects that, as usual, it lies somewhere in the middle.