[Austin Willard Wright]

In theory, your assertion that Iraq's choose their own leaders once Sadaam is killed, sounds good. The foreign policy experience of recent years, however, indicate the hard reality that an invasion will be followed by decades of nation building, foreign aid, endless attempts to micromanage Iraq "democracy on the theory that "we can't just walk away."

[SteamshipTime]

As you can see, logic can't compete with viscera.

Given the proliferation of ambiguous phrasing in the administration's statements to the press, I suspect Bush is searching for a face-saving out from the proposed war on Iraq.

At the same time, after a billion dollars a month, the al-Qaeda leadership (supposedly the real culprits behind 9/11--though the groundwork's already being laid to send that down the memory hole) remains active and we're stuck guarding Karzai in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future.

Bush is being advised by men who are pushing the foreign policy goals of Israel, not the United States' goal of eliminating those responsible for the WTC attacks. Who knows? This realization may be slowly beginning to dawn on the president.