Wish I had time to do it full justice. Much of what you speculate could come true. But assume we had left Iraq alone. What would change?

Would Iran have abandoned their nuclear research if we were only in Afghanistan (which borders Iran?)

What would Saddam be doing all this time while Iran gleefully refines fissionables? What would he conclude from the U.N.'s impotence in stopping the mullahs?

And what would Israel be doing all this time? Iranian mullahs have gone on record supporting an atomic attack on their nation regardless of the retaliation.

Okay, so in the alternate universe we aren't in Iraq, and have lots of handy troops to work with. So what do we do with them? Anything? Nothing? Watch from the sidelines? Or would we eventually have to use them anyway?

Sorry, but I'm not seeing a lot of future stability in the "no invasion of Iraq" status quo, either. So maybe five years from now we're looking at thousands of troops in Iran instead, insurgents pouring in from Iraq, and all the same "quagmire" posts here with just the last letter of the nation changed.

You can make a good case for the risks of our current course, and have done a pretty good job at it in this post, but frankly, nobody has presented me with an alternative that makes the Middle East any less of a powder keg.

I think I've established that the Islamic radicals around the world would be no less pissed off at us for occupying just Afghanistan alone.

The hard truth is that sooner or later someone would have to deal with this crap by methods other than calling meetings and drafting stern proclamations. Damn sure Europe wouldn't. The U.N.? Who?

Over half of China's oil comes out of the Middle East. By 2015, it's going to be about 70 percent. What would THEY finally do if we decided to stick our heads in the sand when the Middle East blew up? Wouldn't THAT be fun.

I don't have any brilliant cure-alls for this world situation. But it's silly to pretend that not invading Iraq would have made the area more stable, and if Iraq does succeed in developing a democratic and pluralistic government, the effect overall would be a positive one.