IF Saddam had a WMD program(s) it was half assed and no where near yielding usable results. As for freeing Iraqi's I could give a rats a$$. Most of them would slit your throat in your sleep for $10.
A small special ops war? Would that have routed the Taliban? Sure we could have assisinated Saddam, but that would leave Uday, Qusay or some other Saddamite in charge. In other words, no regime change & and the continued (if not expanded) support of worldwide terror. Think Iran.
You may or may not think transforming the ME from terrorist enclave to modern world is worthwhile, but it is worth a shot. People say "the muslims will never change". Well, in my learned estimation, there is Turkey, Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, and a few others that ALREADY are fighting terrorism in their midst, and at least are allied with us enough to know that their govt's are not going to be sliding nukes and chemical weapons to the Bin Ladens of the world.
Afghanistan, with our help of course, is stacking up taliban remnants and terrorists like cordwood, and we are doing the same in Iraq. Libya gave up the ghost and now is looking for US assistance to destroy its WMD remnants. Lebannon held elections, and it looks like a multi party democracy will take hold. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and Yemen, 3 of the places infested most with islamo fascists are killing off terrorists in their midst. And I predict Hamas will soon change their tune, ehich they have started to already.
And how did Bush sell out the middle calss exactly? Unemployment in my state went from 6.8% after 9-11 to about 4.3% now. And don't even try to tell me it's all WalMart jobs. Every engineer working for independent consulting firms is employed beyond 50 hours a week and has the luxury now of choosing which company will pay him the most. Boeing is booming. Microsft is booming, Weyerhauser is booming, Paccar/Kenworth is booming. Small businesses are booming. Good luck finding an electrician or a carpenter or a plumber or a steelworker that has much time to breathe. State coffers are spilling over and tourism is high once again.