But he repeats here a couple of tropes popular among palaeocon leftists and other leftists.
(1) President Lincoln never said before, during or after the Civil War that his goal was to free the slaves. His stated goal was to preserve the Union and he said openly that freeing the slaves or keeping them in bondage was a subordinate concern to this goal.
(2) President Bush never said that his goal was freedom in Iraq. He said that his goal was the removal of a dictator whose regime was inimical to US interests and US security. Freedom for Iraqis was a positive externality.
Exactly so!