you are correct
You are correct.
What the essay I posted does not address is that we were NOT at war with the Iraqi nation; we were at war with it's administration which did not have the support of the populace. Therefore it would be immoral as well as disfunctional to inflict the level of hurt we did to Germany & Japan in WWII.
That being said the basic premise expressed in the article is valid. Because the Iraqui populace escaped (relatively) unscathed from the war process, rebuilding is not analogous and we're dealing with a different post-war civilian psyche. New history is being made.