“It would appear perhaps he never was really in the fight for R principles.”
After invading Iraq, he was never in the fight defending the troop’s mission either.
It pains me to say you are probably correct. We had a great opportunity, indeed, if not an obligation and pissed it away. It's easy to imagine what would have happened had we turned our back on Japan and Germany the day those WWII hostilities ended.
The kids loved us and there was a period of time most of the teen-age males would proudly wear any tee shirt that had something American on it. They would line up in the open for several blocks at the crack of dawn at the front gate for medical attention. The mothers and fathers seemed most appreciative of what was done for their children.
With some imagination and dexterity, we could have done it on the cheap and many of those teen age males would now have roles in Iraq's government.