To be clear, I'm very much a layperson with absolutely no special knowledge or insight. I really don't know enough about Iraq to have an opinion.

But what I do notice is that Germany, Japan, Korea and Vietnam were all able to break free from feelings of anger and grievance against past enemies. Iraq (and Afghanistan) are populations rife with religion-fuelled and religion-adjacent grievances, pointing internally and externally. Sadly I don't have optimism for change.

I’m not a vet. I didn’t serve. But my perception as an ignorant plebian is that the fighting in Iraq was hard, but the fighting in Afghanistan was bitter. We pacified Iraq. Afghanistan hasn’t bowed to the will of the United Staes, the Soviet Union, or to anyone since or including Napoleon. Nobody wins a military victory in Afghanistan. The only hope is peace through economic compromise.