The US media and politicians constantly talked about bringing democracy to Iraq (which it still kind of has).

This doesn't make sense and won't likely happen. You either conquer them or left them unstable enough (in this case, fighting each other) so it doesn't matter if you're there or not. The current situation is a plus to geopolical chess players, for their national interests.

For context, Iraq is just a chess piece . it can be a pawn, bishop, rook, queen, or king or whatever. The end game is for these big players to win. Depending on strategy, Iraq can be pawned, sacrificed, or promoted to queen or whatever as long as the real player can win the game.

And this apply to other countries as well, not just Iraq, If you got what I mean. At the end of the day, its all about the real players trying to stay winning so their national interest will remain protected.