Steve P,
Your argument back to me completely ignores the fact that Sadam’s other violations of UN resolutions were also precipitating factors in the authorizations.
Iraq is now showing the unmistakable characteristics of a legitmate functioning republic. It has held repeated elections that all factions save Al Queda now participate in. It is the only representative government in the Arab sphere. Its people view the government as legitimate. I guess you don’t value these developments, but I do.
Freely elected governments tend not to fight with one and other. They tend to engage in free market transactions that benefit sellers and purchasers. Their people are able to make better economic decisions that favor their families circumstances than people who live in non representative regimes. The Arab peoples are not able to redress grievances they may have with their rulers. It’s pretty obvious why their liable to express frustration violently.
You can hate President Bush all you want, thats fine. You can choose to ignore the positive benefits the Iraqi people have realized from liberation. The important thing to me is that they value what I have outlined above, they have fought and died for liberation. Their government is not perfect, it is corrupt and factionalized, and riven with inexperience. It will not look like our government; but it has germinated from a common seed. That is an accomplishment for all Arab peoples, given their political history.
Iraq no longer pays to have suicide bombers kill innocent Israeli citizens. It no longer threatens Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the other Arab states or for, that matter, Iran.
What ever your hatred for President Bush is I invite you to see the larger picture. By the way, continued success in Iraq is now dependent on President Obama’s continued execution of successful strategy. Based on his policy, I think he see’s that. He knows that if he trades political stability for vacumn induced instability, it will be he who bears that legacy, not President Bush.
