We've dropped the ball morally on more than just a couple of things during the past 10-15 years, but don't try to pass this off as an excercise in gold-digging another country. We did leave the Kurds out to dry and misrepresented our goals to them in Iraq in 1991 and it's not something to be proud of at all.
However, don't even try to pass this off as a gold-digging excercise by the US. With folks putting a tag of $100 billion and up on the impending war, the math doesn't even begin to add up given your rant. Even with the potential for oil contracts with American oil companies to replace the aging oil infrastructre in Iraq, short-term it's akin to robbing a beggar for cash. Long-term there will be gains, but this is pretty much irrelevant to us going over to Iraq in the first place...
Actually Saddam was left in power to maintain a balance of power in the region, though looking back, having the Kurds and quite possibly Iran pouring in after we killed or captured him and his entire family and regime, it wouldn't have been such a bad idea.
