At the outset of the invasion of Iraq, for some, the scenario went like this: Day 1- We win. Day 2 - We all celebrate. Day 3 - We have no viable plan. Five years on, there is no peace. Estimates run as high as 1 million deaths in Iraq and 4 million displaced, with half of them now living outside of that country.

European recovery from WWII, a larger and more devastating conflict, went better largely due to the Marshall Plan. A fractious European society came together to rebuild. A fractious Iraqi society remains unable do so.

Read this comparison piece.