You are correct and we will never know what could have been. My only qualm is that history has been re-written and stereo-types my ancestors and many more as racist inbreds and is believed by many supposedly intelligent history savvy people many here on this forum and that is just not the fact.
Just like Bush will never receive one lick of favorable writings for the invasion of Iraq he will always be vilified no matter the outcome and the fact that WMD’s were there and went to Syria. Jeez look who won a peace prize for spewing lies and outright false claims.
I think its probable history will be far kinder to the President on Iraq then the current talking heads indicate.
Consider how we view Lincoln today, or Truman, in 20/20 hindsight, for example. Both were reviled as much if not more than President Bush is today, Lincoln undoubtedly more so if only based on the draft riots in 1864. Bush hasn’t seen anything close to that.