[arthurus]

The only legitimate aim of the War in Iraq would have been the establishment of a permanent and large American military base in Iraq with a corridor to another American military base at the port of Basra. The rest of the ME should have been ignored except as it impinged on our presence in Iraq. We would then have appropriated the oilfields to finance it all. The ME would be much more stable had we done that and Russia would not be present beyond their long standing base in Syria. Israel would be protected by our mere presence and would be of reduced political consideration because of that.

[central_va]

In addition to what you said, we should have militarized the borders between Afgan and Iran and Iraq and Iran. Force the Iranian regime to "waste" money beefing up their borders and putting pressure on the mullah led regime.

We had them surrounded and let them go.

Seems nobody plays 'Risk' anymore.