Before: A single crazed man, ruling Iraq with an iron fist.

Now: A fledgling representative democracy, picking its own leaders, writing its own constitution, squabbling over who's going to do what, and complaining about the issues that people complain about in democracies.

I see that as progress. Maybe you don't.

Without our military there right now, the insurgency will return Iraq to the "before" state. Maybe you think that would be worth it to see Bush take a major defeat. I know a lot of people would.

BTW, if we had pulled all of the American forces out of Europe in 1960, what would the result have been? Does this mean European nations at that time weren't democracies? How about South Korea?