"We had to do it"
Didn't we let all the baathists get out of Bagdad before we went in?
I know we let a lot of Hussein's Republican Guard go beforehand. We even PAID some of them to get out. So it would be easier for us.
The idea was NEVER to give them democracy. The idea was to go in with firepower and "shock and awe", grab Hussein and take over his palaces, money and oil fields.
Period.
They used the word "democracy" only later to subdue the American people and to cover their assess.
After all, they DID get the oil fields, and the American tax payers paid for it, with their money and their sons and daughters.
Those oil boys from Texas are pretty damn smart.
Slick, I would say.
And I'd say "criminal" too.