The apparent net effect of a completely illegal and immoral war against Iraq is that we are about to leave a country in so tenuous a state that the development and perhaps the survival of that state in the long run is anyone's guess. The net effect is a country so devastated, it's infrastructure so fractured that it will probably take generations of effort for the country to restore itself to the standard of living that it had in general under Saddam Hussein. Even the prospects of democracy in a country so thoroughly wrecked and so thoroughly populated by disputatious factions seems doubtful. In effect, we leave behind ruins and hope that with diplomacy we will see emerge a beacon of democracy in the middle east brought about by the actions of a democratic country that didn't give a dam* about them in the first place. And we can't even begin to afford the cost of truly paying for the damage we have caused, as "creation" is oh so much more costly than "destruction". Shame on us.

Gee Charles...Iraq WAS a sovereign nation before we went there...and now that we've blasted them back into the stoneage in some parts, poisened the country with DU and so on, Iraq's future is certain? Well, if going to hell is certain, then I guess Iraq's future is assured. It's already there, thanks to us.
I think you missed my point which is that we "owe" them and even if it means risking our future well being to pay it, it is still owed.