sfrcook:

Would I invade Iran knowing that 5 years after said invasion, I would get the same results that we have gotten 5 years after invading Iraq? And that total costs, both monetary and human would be the same.

YOU”RE DARNED TOOTING I WOULD!

And I would say that “pre-surge” as well.

Invading Iraq made a mideastern caliphate impossible for so long as we were there. The lack of a caliphate reduces enemy capabilities and renders them harmless. Therefore, invading Iraq was certainly worth it.

If invading Iran does the same thing to enemy capabilities at the same “price”, it too would be worth it.

The one that was the exception was the one I was in. The capabilities of the Evil Empire
were unaffected by anything we did or could have done in Vietnam. “There was no there, there”. Thus, success was measured by getting the dead down to 100 a week while making an orderly retreat. (It could have been a rout. It was not. Thank you Creighton Abrams.)

This does not mean that I regret my times in VN. I do not. They were times well spent.
Nonetheless, VN was a wrong place to commit blood and treasure. Iraq is not and Iran would not be, if invasion/occupation becomes necessary.