Back to Iraq For the record, I'm very much in favor of an invasion of Iraq and a subsequent Marshall Plan style restoration. Japan, Germany, and South Korea have powerhouse economies today, and their success is largely because of the US restoration. Establishing an American protectorate in Iraq during the transition to democracy will serve both the left and the right. The left will be happy that human rights are not being violated by Saddam Hussein. The right will be happy that we have national security and immediate access to a vast amount of oil. It's a win/win situation. There is one potential caveat. It is uncertain whether the Iraqis have enough smart fellows to run an economy as successfully as the Koreans, the Japanese, or the Germans. Personally I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Unlike sub-Saharan Africa, I don't think it's definitive that the Middle East is lacking in people with a high enough IQ to maintain a modern economy. (Iran in particular has a very high number of technically sophisticated expats studying at elite US universities.)