But since he invited us, I thought a little about where we would be if Saddam was still there.
• Saddam would be as much and as little of a threat to the U.S. as he ever was.
• Al-Qaeda would not be anywhere near as strong as it is today.
• Osama would be dead or captured.
• Roughly 2,700 U.S. soldiers would still be alive.
• Roughly 30,000 U.S. soldiers would not be injured and maimed.
• Roughly 46,000 Iraqi civilians would still be alive.
• A heck of a lot of Iraqi soldiers would still be alive.
• 99.9% of the world’s population would never have heard of Abu Ghraib.
• We might still be able to hold our heads up high in the community of nations.
• With any luck, George Bush would not be president, and we wouldn’t have to listen to Cheney’s crap any more.
• With a different president, Katrina would have played out very differently.
• The world as well as the U.S. would be much more united, much less divided.