I have personally known and befriended over 20 Iraqis over the years, as far back as 1974 and as recently as 1999 (I even knew one of the leading candidates for president of Iraq). They are very different from the Saudi area Arabs at heart (as are Iranians) very forward looking economically and democratically, as a people. They were sorely oppressed by the Hussein regime, and only his brutal and efficient state police forces kept him in power. People were forced to “play ball” with him with their families’ lives held hostage. It took a while for the population to come to trust that he was finally gone for good, but that is no longer true. I am very confident about my evaluation that they will do fine now (similar to Jordan) as long as we don’t abandon them if Syria/Iran attack them.
Aye. There's the rub. Obama. Still, I hope you are correct, but Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds all playing nicely together, I'll have to see it to believe it.