Joe – I would add to your excellent piece that prior to our parking 50,000 plus soldiers on Saddam’s border he had kicked the U.N. WMD inspectors out of Iraq. We forced him to let them back in. However, we couldn’t leave our men in the desert indefinitely. The choice was to leave with Saddam in place or force him out. I would also note that technically we were still at war with Iraq and he was firing on our planes and that Congress had, during the Clinton Administration, voted to oust him. That there turned out to be no WMD is beside the point. The only way to learn that was to invade.
I’d also like to point out to other commenters that we did not leave forces behind in Germany, Japan, etc. just to stabilize their democracies, but to combat the USSR. Our basing rights around the world allowed us to project our power. It helped bring the USSR to its knees. Basing rights in Iraq may do the same to Islamo-fascism.
Even given that Bush was not a economic conservative and is a social conservative and knowing what we know now, I’d still vote for him over Kerry. Obama makes me fear for my country.
