ahaha....yes indeed. Totally agree. Well, i think the U.S/U.K and other western powers thought that things will be easier after getting encouragement from Iraqis shia's elements and seeing how unpopular Saddam was among Iraqis Shia's they obviously thought it will be easy to crush Saddam's Iraq's mainly sunni led forces and since Shia's being majority they would keep supporting U.S/Western powers even after Saddam's removal and thereby making U.S job of rebuilding and stabilizing the country more easier and favourable towards the West. However, the U.S/West got it wrong, since after they deposed and dissolved Saddam's baathist army/government and gave power to to the Shia's led forces who had supported/collaborated and fought alongside US/Western forces these same forces immediately played a double game and turned back against the same Western forces they had supported and collaborated with earlier and even leading to an internal civil sectarian war with their former Sunnis rulers/remnants of Saddams regime( they called it their own revenge i suppose). So yes the West got played here. lol What they call:
''Killing with a borrowed knife''. i.e Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one's own strength is not favourable).
Well, yes, but Iraq's case is different from Syria to be honest. In fact the U.S/U.K(our parliament rejected intervening to remove Assad, they learned from the Iraq fiasco) did well by not intervening to remove Assad(as bad as he might be just like Saddam) directly. Since i can remember there were many Sunnis rebels/elements in Syria and even the region calling/pleading with the west to intervene and remove Assad for them and claiming(rightly i confess) how Assad Shia led regime has been oppressing/killing them since the uprisings and even for decades. Fortunately enough we didn't fall for the bait this time. lol Since if we did intervene to remove him, i am 100% sure these same elements will have been the first ones to turn their weapons and attention against us immediately after we removed him. They too would have started fighting against each other for power and looking for vengeance against their former rulers/oppressors i.e Shias leading to another sectarian conflict like we saw in Iraq post Saddam thereby leading to the weakening and fracturing of the government and country even further. It's good we limited our involvement to targeted strikes against elements detrimental to our interests/security. That was the best way to deal with this. Let them fight and shed their own blood if they really want to be free from their own dictators/tyrants.