Huck is right... the author seems to wallowing in moral hyperbole... because this has happened in the past, the US can't or shouldn't do this. Or because in the past the US did this and that, the US should refrain from this and that.
Foreign policy isn't about morality. Ask Jimmy Carter how that worked out for him. It is about strategic interest. 9/11 changed everything. We got a crash course on the perils of not doing anything (Ask the Clinton Administration how that worked out) and loosing everything.
When an author spells out reasoning based on the psychology of a madman... I have trouble believing anything he writes next. He says that we don't need to do anything because Saddam won't do 1) turn over atomic weapons to a terrorist group. 2) Won't do it because everybody suspects them. (He has the number one suspect in international terror for the past 11 years.. that hasn't stopped him) 3) He wouldn't risk his own life. (which proves this author has no understanding of him at all)
Then we are back in the Vietnam prism. Bad war that... but, all wars are not Vietnam. All decades aren't the 1960's. And all leaders aren't LBJ. So, it's over. Let's move on before we find ourselves weeping on the Oprah show.
The author has very little understanding about the structure of international terrorism. To write that Iraq is not a threat to us wipes over the last 11 years. Iraq has their dirty paws all over Al-Qaeda and the PA. It is folly to think they don't.
Lastly, I am so tired of people saying that we can't defend ourselves because we have allies in Egypt, Pakistan, etc. That sounds good on paper, but isn't the real world.
Which sums up my major problem with this article. This author doesn't live in the real world.
What this country needs to ask itself is: Do we want 9/11 to become our way of life. Or, do we summon the courage and fight. Fight until the battle is over. Fight until the enemy is vanquished. And the enemy is militant Islam terror and those states that sponsor it.
The author then says this: War is serious. Do you think, Captain Obvious. Yes it is serious. Sometimes it is needful. And sometimes it comes to you from a clear blue sky on a Tuesday in September.
This guy doesn't know the enemy. What motivates them and what their ultimate goal is. I do... let's roll! (a little hyperbole of my own)