WHY THE RUSH TO BAGHDAD? I’ve been wondering about this. There are obvious advantages to speed, of course, but we’re moving very, very fast. I wonder if part of the reason is that we don’t think that the Iraqis — burned, as I note here by the failure of the United States to go on to Baghdad in 1991 — will trust us to go the distance unless we, well, go the distance.

Remember the old saying: if you strike at a king, you must kill him. You certainly can’t leave him as king. That’s something we need to keep in mind.