Tallying up the results of the war

From a lettor to the editor in the Mercury News June 7, 2003:

  It's been seven weeks since the victory in Iraq, and it's a good time to tally up the results.
  On the plus side of the ledger, allied forces did rid Baghdad of a brutal tyrant.
  On the minus side, there are still a few things missing - namely weapons of mass destruction, terrorist suspects, Saddam, governance, health care, the heritage of Western civilization, the rule of law, public utilities, peace and an end in sight to this occupation.
  We've managed to transform a dysfunctional dictatorship into a raging basket case. We're pretty skilled at blowing things apart, but building a viable society from the rubble might prove to be beyond our national will, resources and attention span.