That was different. There was an ultimatum, there was a coalition.

Yes, the recreational wars were dumb, wrong, illegal and just all around bad ideas.

But there was a solid attempt at giving them legitimacy. This matters.

It is early in the news but I also read about the US working on directly having the nation transition. Gives me bad vibes as someone who lived through the invasion of Iraq. TBH, I am not very knowledgeable but I assume there's less sectarianism and lack of infrastructure so it is a different situation. Although with all things Trump, it's his execution and competency following through after the immediate ready decision.

how can you possibly make such a call so early on

This is more Panama 1989 than Iraq 2003.