"After WWII an awful lot of Germans claimed that they were coerced into going along for fear of punishment, of themselves and of their families. After the Iraq War an awful lot of Iraqis claimed the same thing, and war-supporters really want to believe them to support one of the justifications-du-jour for the war. You can't have it both ways, gb."

All I said is that Germany and Iraq were quite different- it hard for me to imagine how you can dispute this: Germany was a powerhouse of industry and technological development. Iraq is mainly (in terms of economic power) a supplier of a valuable raw resource (crude oil)- which doesn't require much of a native skilled workforce (though apparently the Iraqi did happen to be fairly skilled in this regard). Next to oil, Iraq mainly has farming as an export. The situation leading to Germany starting WWII had a number of factors involved. Primary cause was the surrender in terms of WWI (France's demand that they be highly punitive and crippling to any German future power being the main part- which was contrary to what the US wanted). Next part was a political swing- caused by a reaction to Pacifism which was to be blame for this surender agreement. Next, technology (radio) and one of the first exploitation of govt propaganda allowing Hitler to take advantage this swing in public opinion, which couple terror and selective asassination allow him take full control over the democratic state. Using a quasi scientific preverted principle of natural selection, Hilter further strengthen his power by aligning to prejudices of the majority & coupled this to Pacifism to attack the Jews and "misfits".
Now, Iraq was ruled by a guy who "loved" this Nazi and Stalin stuff, and he used these models in styling his leadership- so Iraq and Germany do have some superfical similarities, but at a fundemental level they are quite different.