jbennet53, notice the article you cited was published on 9/26/1001, or before the rapid military success in Afghanistan. Defeating and conquer a dictatorship is not difficult to achieve, as Machieville insightfully observed some four hundred years ago. If the people are cowed by the existing two-bit despots, they will be easily impressed by a proper show of fire power on our part. Furthermore, our rule of the place will much more benevalent than what we displace, and our goal is to foster a friendly democracy not enslavement of the local people.