[RLK]

I don't know could be me but I always thought liberating people from misery was a GOOD THING.

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It is a good thing. However, that was not the original stated purpose of the war. The attempt is being made to substitute that argument as it becomes clear the original stated purpose was not justified. We're being suckered with a switcheroo.

[vbmoneyspender]

The original purpose was regime change based on Hussein being a murderous thug who was a long time sponsor of terrorism. WMD's didn't become a major focus of the debate until Blair got involved in October of last year.

[Reagan Man]

>>>We're being suckered with a switcheroo.

Keep up the leftwing propaganda. You sound like a good liberal. LOL

[SuziQ]

The attempt is being made to substitute that argument as it becomes clear the original stated purpose was not justified. We're being suckered with a switcheroo.

Not so, Pres. Bush mentioned freeing the Iraqis from Sadaam many times in speeches and statements during the run-up to war. It may not have been the most important reason, since he was still trying to hew somewhat to the UN resolutions, but it was always there.

I thought this was a very intersting article, and Fukayama makes a VERY important point when he says that if there turn out to be no WMDs, that it WON'T be a failure of Bush's policies since Clinton has already stated publicly that the Bush folks had the same intelligence that his admin. had. It will be difficult (but not impossible given the mainstream media) for the Nine to turn this into an anti-Bush thing.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Liberation of Iraquis WAS a stated goal early on in this. The war was NOT only predicated upon WMDs.

[Mortimer Snavely]

The mentality of this country is so screwed up that it is impossible for the President to come out and say that the USA must destroy Islamism and Arab National Socialism, even if he understands that that is precisely what's needed to be done, which I seriously doubt he does. Recent US actions against Turkish forces (the sworn ideological enemy of both Islamism and Ba'athism) in Northern Iraq demonstrate this inability to understand the nature of the enemy.

At the same time, though, Iran has the USA and Turkey on both its Iraqi and Afghan frontiers, and Syria has the USA, Israel, and Turkey on its frontiers, and these are good things. In this day and age any good news is welcome.

Gone are the days when the concept of allies and enemies were clearly understood, and everyone had some concept of what Grand Strategy was all about. I doubt seriously that Bush understands these things either. He thought it necessary to generate some sort of "sound bite" rationalization which would be able to fit into a nightly news slot, instead of a well-argued explanation of the nature of the geo-political threat and what would be necessary to destroy it.

By going on about WMD, and not explaining what grand strategy is, or even acknowledging that such an idea exists, though, the President has thrown away an excellent opportunity to explain these things. He has no real concept of a "bully pulpit," and once again an excellent chance to help turn the nation around is thrown away.