[Jim W N]

...some people will always fail to take advantage of those opportunities.

Right. That's why you can't really compare the "War on Poverty" and the War in Iraq. The will to win in war takes committed leadership.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Actually, fighting a War on Poverty (Reaganite style or even LBJ style) was a piece of cake compared to the officially stated benchmarks of "winning" in the Bosnia writ large of Iraq.

The Iraqis have shown nothing but contempt for the stated goals of pluralistic democracy and liberty by their consistent readiness to overwhelmingly elect intolerant pro-Iranian Shi'ite fundamentlists