Katherine and Jerry hit the three-point shot (I sure do wish our host liked a different sport!) here.

As Katherine rightly points out, there is no good evidence that the WoT was either uneccesary or that it is anywhere near over. There’s more coming and our enemy is certainly trying to figure out ways to hurt us and will get in a punch here or there.

Regarding the Kaus “idea”. First off, how is what he claims to want materially different from what we are seeing? Iraq was Iraq, it was a time and place where real military action was called for and could be used – the right tool for the job. It is now nothing more than a holding action.

Kaus seems to be making three insupportable assumptions:

- that because the administration used military force as the tool of choice for Afghanistan and Iraq that they view military force (or outright invasion) as the tool of choice for every regime that needs to be dealt with. This is clearly not the case and any suggestion that it is calls Kaus’ intelligence and imagination into question rather than that of the administration

- that the current administration is NOT thinking calmly about how to deal Iran and whatever “next steps” should be. Or, for that matter, that “next steps” arrived at through calm thinking are not already under way. About the only thing I can think of that might make me consider voting against the president would be learning that his administration or the Pentagon was calling the likes of Kaus to tell them what they are thinking and what the next steps are

- that a Kerry administration would “think calmly about the next steps”. As far as I can tell they are running on a WoT platform that says something like, “the WoT isn’t a mistake but it is unneccessary and we need to stop doing everything we’re doing ASAP and get back in line under the direction of the UN and France because they are smarter and nicer and know mistakes when they see them.”