Real Freedom

The news from Iraq nowadays is usually of the surge or of the relative success of the new Iraqi army in fighting militias in Basra and other once no go areas.It does seem to a degree that some sort of corner has been turned and perhaps Iraq does have a future that doesn't involve death and destruction.Unfortunately just as I seem to think that the blood and money spent to free Iraq may have been well spent I read of a disgusting murder of a young girl that makes me doubt that this part of the world will ever be fit to join the civilised world. Regardless of all the talk about the relative values of various cultures and the unwillingness to decry islams debasement of women,surely nobody can justify actions involving so called honour killings? I know that on a strategic level positioning our forces in the middle east strengthens the west against further expansion of regimes in Iran and Syria but I wonder if on a more human level the war to win the so called hearts and minds has been lost.A world that adheres to a savage 7th century desert creed is not one amenable to women's rights and freedom of speech, and as such is it worth fighting for? I for one don't just want to remove regimes that are hostile to us and replace them with more pliant ones, I believe we need to destroy the theocratic bases of these societies and really set the people free...free to worship and in the case of women..love, as they please...almost seems worth fighting for doesn't it?