Japan was far from the Westernized democratic ally it is now just 7 years after the war:
Declassified documents reveal that Japanese ultranationalists with ties to U.S. military intelligence plotted to overthrow the Japanese government and assassinate the prime minister in 1952.
The scheme — which was abandoned — was concocted by militarists and suspected war criminals who had worked for U.S. occupation authorities after World War II, according to CIA records reviewed by The Associated Press. The plotters wanted a right-wing government that would rearm Japan.
Good thing we stayed in Japan. And are still there.
But Iraq's failure to be run by the Tigris and Euphrates Chapter of the League of Women Voters by now is proof that Iraq was doomed from the start.