Forget about justification for the war. The below is the stuff that great nations are made of: You create a small nation in the middle of the desert when your mission demands it - with no compromise on the conveniences of life. What's more, you are capable of taking it all down, and moving out upon direction.

[size=14pt]A small Nigerian town with the following stats: 60,000 residents, 1.85 million gallons/day water supply plant, 50 MW powerplant, 3,000 washing machines - would become an African legend for ages to come. Yet, this is possible - when we finally get real leaders[/size]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-iraq-withdrawal-idUSTRE7AN0MI20111124
The Victory Base complex in Baghdad, the heart of the war operation surrounded by 42 km (27 miles) of concrete blast walls and razor wire, once hosted 40,000 troops and more than 20,000 contractors. Balad, north of Baghdad, had 36,000 residents.

Victory was so big it had a reverse osmosis water plant that could generate 1.85 million gallons a day, an ice plant, a 50-megawatt power generating station, stadium-sized chow halls and a laundromat with 3,000 machines able to do 36,000 loads a day.

An African village with even half those amenities you mean.

Right. I guess each of our states currently has under 150 MW of power on average - pathetic.

And when one estimates that those plants probably work only about half the time, each of our states might be looking at power supply only a little larger than this 60,000-person American "village" in the middle of the desert.

Kobojunkie:

An African village with even half those amenities you mean.