You make a good point. I was primarily thinking of security and major government functions, not micromanaging commercial operations, but I wasn't clear about that.

Iraq has no perfect analogy with other nations. Obviously, Japan's pre-war government and culture were different. So was Germany's pre-war government, particularly since the Nazis had only been in power for a short time, and there was still a strong tradition of democracy. Unfortunately, it was only allowed to exist in the western half.

The Soviets were in power for two generations, which may have made a difference in how easily that nation was able to work its way back to democracy, or the level of corruption.

Totalitarianism kills more than just people.

Iraq, or for that matter most of the Middle East, has little if any tradition of democracy at all, and unlike Japan or Germany, there is a strong tribal influence. The answers for one nation aren't going to plug seamlessly into another. But lessons can be learned.

I still say it's possible we put them on their own feet a lot sooner than we should have. I expect we would have had exactly the same issues in Afghanistan if we had never gone to Iraq at all.