Tweet
Here's the hypothetical: The input to your Invasion Machine is Iraq circa 2002, the output is Iraq circa 2022. Iraq at the time of output is basically a smaller poorer version of the United States, with roughly the same level of political corruption, murder rate, education, infant mortality, etc., with a lower GDP per capita and perhaps a slight adjustment in corruption/murder/education/etc. to reflect this. Elections are about as free and open as are the elections in the US, i.e. Iraq is not a puppet/client state.
Recent history has shown that in the process of ostensibly making life better for some you've got to accidentally shoot and bomb others, the question here is how many people you're allowed to accidentally shoot/bomb before the ends no longer justify the means. Just to put the poll numbers in perspective, current estimates peg the number of civilian casualties in Iraq at about 90-100K.
Keep in mind that these are civilians we're talking about, not unlawful combatants or insurgents or terrorists or whatever. If it helps then just go ahead and assume that they're all toddlers or grade schoolers or whatever.
Recent history has shown that in the process of ostensibly making life better for some you've got to accidentally shoot and bomb others, the question here is how many people you're allowed to accidentally shoot/bomb before the ends no longer justify the means. Just to put the poll numbers in perspective, current estimates peg the number of civilian casualties in Iraq at about 90-100K.
Keep in mind that these are civilians we're talking about, not unlawful combatants or insurgents or terrorists or whatever. If it helps then just go ahead and assume that they're all toddlers or grade schoolers or whatever.
Comment