“Not the pretense for war put forth by Bush...”
Nope. But it happened. And while it was politically incorrect for GWB to say it, I heard generals saying it in private at the time. I said it, as did a LOT of officers.
GWB’s fault was that he didn’t defend it. It anchored them there for a while, and was a strategic gamble wasted during the 7 years of Obama. But it was not wrong, it was not a mistake, and I’m glad I went and glad my kids went.
We will have to disagree on the broader picture. I agree Bush did nothing to respond and left office as one of the weakest Presidents ever. This gave us Obama (with the help of a lame candidate 2x0.
But the war was a mistake, despite the valiant people who served a bad cause.