finally!

[smoothmoniker]

What would you call what happened in Afghanistan? A war? A campign? An invasion? Whoops thats a dirty word 'coz it suggests it's not now an entirely autonomous state utterly uninfluenced by the US nor kept afloat by the US. What's Iraq going to become? The 21st centuary version of the 19th centuary Bristish Client State.

There are worse things than being kept afloat by the US.

There are worse things than having a strong nation shepherd a weak one until it can stand as a functioning autonimous democracy.

There are worse things than being invaded by a foreign power who's primary objective is to remove another foreign power and reinstate your national identity.

There are many stops along the path from brutal dictatorship and fundamentalist state to functioning democracy. Nation building and client state are among the least repugnant.

-sm