Marines leave Iraq - what they achieved

The question occasionally comes up from liberals of my acquaintance "well, if we weren't killing innocent Iraqis for fun or for their oil, what were we there for?"

Crunchie over at the Rott summarizes my response nicely, saying well in a few words what I try to say with many:

We defeated Saddam Husseins Iraq. In it’s place we sowed the seeds of a western style democracy in the heart of the Islamic world, right next door to the evil theocracy of the Iranian Republic, the birthplace and spiritual heart of the modern Islamo-fascist movement. And we drew in thousands of Jihadi’s into a battlespace of our choosing, where our tactics, techniques, and equipment could perform at their peak efficiency. And we slaughtered them. In our way, not theirs.

Well said. Read it all