“I believe he is a good strategic thinker” – Thomas Ricks on Barack Obama.

Based on….?

Other posters here have touched on almost all the important points, but the illusion of omniscience of Obama has to be maintained somehow.

And to be more honest, if Saddam was truly a monster (which he was), who was going to get rid of him? Russia? NATO? China?

Iran was trying (pre-OIF), but a real Iraqi civil war with massive ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis and Kurds would have followed.

It could only have been the United States, at least leading a coalition with the most forces available. This is a continuation of a very long struggle tracing back to the ’70′s (at least), when Saddam rose to control the Baath Party in Iraq, and the Shah was displaced by the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Only those who are dead have seen the end of war.