if you think oil had nothing to do with it teribus, you are deluding yourself - if Saddam had an invaded a Kuwait that had zero oil reserves - it might have been like a war between Libya and Chad, or any other conflict in Africa.
Certainly America wouldnt care.

it also, certainly wasnt because he was a tyrant and committed genocide on his own people - because when it happened in Cambodia
(which incidentally was bombed by Nixon without the knowledge or approval by Congress, leading up to the whole mess that came with Pol Pot), or in Rwanda the US didnt want to get involved. Hell, in Rwanda
when the US was asked by the UN peacekeepers if they could jam the radio stations that were telling the Hutus where to go and slaughter people - the response was 'that would be restricting freedom of speech!'

heck the US was overjoyed when Saddam invaded Iran, even supplied him with weapons and satellite intelligence - basically he was 'a son of a bitch but he was our of a bitch' - Iraqi freedom certainly didnt matter to Rumsfeld then.

President Carter stated clearly in 1980 when Russia invaded Afghanistan - that the persian gulf region is of vital interest to the US and that policy has been reaffirmed time and again with every administration.

and strick - you dont need a 5million man army for modern warfare-
they already found out in 91 they didnt need a half million troops to do the job in Iraq. The trend has been toward more special forces that are highly trained. they make less of a target, less logistical problems - although a bit short on keeping order, as Rumsfeld found out after the Iraqi collapse. (even then, a lot of the troops werent even used for security - in a new yorker article, one US soldier wrote
April 9th - "no activity today, sitting in our camp", at a time when
hospitals, museums and govt bldgs are being looted.

I also wouldnt say that North Korea hadnt been involved in anything since 1950, - they blew up a south korean govt meeting, killing most of the cabinet in the 80s, blew up a south korean airliner, and attempted to do another one, kidnapped foreing nationals, held the crew of the USS pueblo for a year. (although a cocky US general might call their artillery a target rich environment, not much would be left of seoul - and if Kim does have one or two nukes, whats to stop him from sneaking one on a fishing boat and making San francisco a target rich environment.

(not to mention the fact that Pakistan has admitted sharing nuclear technology with NK) even though NK is part of the axis of evil, and Pakistan is an ally (as long as Musharaf doesnt get knocked off,
and not too many pakistani presidents have gone into quiet retirement
lately)