William S. Lind discusses the folly of maximalist objectives:
As Clausewitz wrote, the goals or objectives of states at war tend to change over time. In 18th Century cabinet wars, princes who were losing wisely reduced their objectives to what was attainable, while those who were winning were usually sufficiently prudent not to want too much. Wise statesmen such as Prince Bismarck kept their governments’ objectives in check even during successful wars in the 19th Century.
But the advent of total wars between peoples, first in the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon and then the World Wars of the 20th Century, let loose the folly of maximalist objectives. Worse, leaders and states that were losing tended to inflate rather than trim their objectives, largely as sops to public opinion. This led to ruinous wars and equally ruinous peace treaties. As Napoleon’s fortunes waned, he was repeatedly offered relatively generous peace terms by the Allies, all of which he rejected, hoping a last throw of the iron dice would recoup his losses. As World War I dragged on, both sides’ war objectives expanded, preventing the compromise, reconstructive peace Europe needed and ending in the catastrophic Diktat of Versailles. The ultimate extension of maximalist objectives, the Allies’ demand for unconditional surrender in World War II, turned half of Europe over to Communism for half a century.
Bringing democracy to the Middle East goes beyond maximalism into pure fantasy, he says.
I doubt if the goal was to actually bring democracy to the Middle East so much as to give them a chance, however so slight, to take it for themselves.
The alternative is to kill them all.