Can it not be reasonably argued that getting rid of Saddam and the Baath party is, in fact, a major step on the path toward justice and normalization in Iraq?

Unless we've been grossly misinformed, the current ruling elite of Iraq are the very cause of that nation's "repression, social, political and economic injustice [and] human rights abuses..."

I suppose we could wait it out, and let the Islamic world come to democracy on its own (if indeed that's where it's headed), but when they brought destruction and mass murder to New York and Washington, they made "sitting it out" a much less attractive option.

Also, I'm under the impression that the largest single donor of aid to needy Arabic nations is, in fact, the United States. Not the filthy rich Saudis. Not the Egyptians or the Syrians or the Kuwaitis. Us.

So on the one hand, they reject the western lifestyle as corrupt--but on the other hand, they sure seem to want that very lifestyle.

The more I learn about the history of American foreign policy, the more I beleive that we're the pawns. The CIA in Iraq, for example, during the years of Saddam's rise, were used by this side and that, alternately friend and foe depending on the direction of the wind. They never "held sway" over anyone or anything. The role they played was at the behest of Iraqi nationals. From what I can tell, most of them were damn lucky to have kept their heads. And the mere fact of their [largely ineffectual] presence makes them an outstanding scapegoat for everything for which the Baath party wants to escape blame.