I totally agree. The simple fact of the matter is that if we don't get a handle on that region of the world soon, nuclear war on some level is an inevitability. Either force reform now or face much worse consequences and many more dead Americans down the road.
Yep. I even watched Dick Cheney say that the WMD were just one selling point of the invasion. I always thought it was a mistake to sort of build the whole thing up around that point but I also understood why it was necessary for it to be done that way (media/politics etc).
The way I see it this administration was thinking longer range- for the actual long term good of the USA (and free world) rather than just making a decision that would benefit his own administration. This had to be done. Once we actually have a fighting force on the ground in the region (and we occupy 2 countries- Afghanistan as well) this would allow us to do a lot more in the region later.
While we're on the ground in Iraq it isn't very difficult to make the case for regime change in Iran; particularly when they are helping us make that case so effectively themselves at the moment. The way we're positioned in the region, we could enter Iran from Afghanistan and Iraq as well as from the sea. And it looks like we're going to have to...