[rrpjr]

That the war was "uncalled for, unnecessary and a failure so far" is disputed on all counts. We were in a state of war with Iraq when President Bush took office. We'd been at "war" for them for more than 10 years, through three administrations. Nothing could be more more "sane," in my mind, than to finish it while finishing off a gangster regime with multiple ties to terrorism and in violation of 18 UN resolutions, the enforcement of which that great body of nations had cravenly shirked. We now know why they did shirk it, most likely: so not to disturb the payola stream from their oil-for-food "humanitarian program".

Which provides every kind of moral argument for the US to circumvent the UN entirely and handle the distribution of its own aid.

Inasmuch as failure is deeply wished for by many, we have not failed so far, and will not. Freedom is never easy but we will prevail, and the democratization of Iraq will prove not only a great thing now, but accrue to us for generations as people there and in that region experience and witness a wholly new way of life. The reason the terrorists are fighting so viciously is their stark fear at this reality, at the prospect of institutionalized freedom in the form of elections.

There was a time when the Left rooted for revolutions and liberations of brutalized people. Now they seem to represent a dreary kind of amoral beancounting.