Agreed. Take out Saddam Hussein and the Taliban and then leave. Allow the Northern Alliance and the Ba’ath Party to seize power in their countries. Not our problem with the aftermath.
That's what GW Bush was told by his Generals in GW2. Instead, he went for "De-Baathification". If We had just told the Generals and senior officials in Iraq they could run the country as soon as Saddam was dead, it would have been over quickly. Then after kicking Afghanistan's ass, GW decided we would win their "hearts and minds" and show them that democracy was the way. We could have walked away from Afghanistan 20 years ago, looking invincible, and kept the Baathists running Iraq as a counter to Iran. GW's 8 years cost us dearly.
And now Putin is following GW's example, right down to the deck of "most wanted" playing cards. Brilliant.