so you say that the fearsome army that cut tail and ran before the American onslaught in '03 was a credible deterrent to Iran? The same Iraq that had been deprived of weapons and spare parts for 12 years? They couldn't fight Iran without poison gas 20 years ago. Did you believe they could now (prior to 3/03)? How long would it have been before the Shi'ite militias of South Iraq would have been armed by Iran and in revolt against Sadaam? Then what do you do, rehabilitate Sadaam (it seems that is what he was expecting even as U.S. forces closed in on Baghdad). Don't you think we'd be facing a more concentrated force of al Quada et al in Afghanistan if they weren't being bled in Iraq?You have to face them somewhere,in my opinion, and the old Clintonian approach that you appear to favor by default, ended with a bang on 9/11.
Ever hear of the Iran-Iraq War? Iraq didn't win, but they held their own and it became a stalemate.