How many times were you in Iraq? The people in Baghdad, the Kurds, the marsh Arabs and other groups wanted us there to straighten the place out.
Our biggest mistakes were; not immediately rehiring the military and running the power plants full time. If we had done both of those things, the outcome would have been much different.
And as for the original invasion and occupation of Iraq, that was all Turkey’s fault due to their reneging on an agreement. Once the main forces of Saddam had dissipated into the populace, only rehiring the military would have changed the economic structure and kept them from being willing hires of the elements who wanted to disrupt Iraq.
It didn’t need to be a Jeffersonian republic, only a stable state. And when Bush left office, it was very close to being just that. Obama threw it all under the bus so he could earn that Nobel Peace Prize he was given for not being Bush.
And no Christians were being murdered while we were there. And no attacks were occurring in America and most other places. We were fighting the bad guys there, not here. That is the reason I went, and will still go. Fighting them outside of the US is ALWAYS the best option.