Anyone paying attention in ’98 and ’99 would have realized that the rhetorical groundwork for Iraq Part 2 was being put in place. Hell, one could argue that the *only* reason that the war didn’t start in 1998 was Clinton was open to ‘Wag The Dog’ opposition from the Right.
Go and actually read all of the speeches from the Democrats and the Republicans in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Whomever was President from 2000-2004 would have gone to war in Iraq. The collapsing sanction regime would have necessitated it. 9/11 only muddied the waters.
Actually though, this whole affair has only reinforced one of my fundamental ‘Laws’ of American Foreign Policy: Only ‘Johnson’ can invade Viet Nam, and only ‘Nixon’ can go to China. Meaning, only a Democrat can effectively neutralize the ‘Peace at any price’ crowd to wage war with a broad spectrum of national and international support, and only a Republican can neutralize the ‘you are appeasing’ hawks on the Right to change the geopolitical status quo.
If the wrong ‘letter’ tries to break this rule, you end up where we are now.
