Why did we go into Iraq?

[mrnoodle]

In a way, this argument is as pointless as one about religion, because our most basic views about what our country is and what it represents are on opposite poles. One side thinks that America stands for everything that's right about the world -- freedom to say what you want, believe what you want, try for whatever goal you set for yourself. The other side believes any action by America is inherently wrong. That's before any real facts come out -- at the outset of any world event, half of our population already believes we're the bad guys. You're not going to ever convince those people of anything. Their model of responsible, fair, just government is the United Nations.

And I'm not disputing that democracy has to come from within a country. I do dispute that a democratic movement with America as its wingman is a bad thing. In our own revolution, we had a "coalition of the bribed" helping us as well. And doing it for internally selfish reasons. But we're free today nonetheless. In fact, that's an interesting point -- if all those big bad European meanies with their organized armies could come into a second-world country and back our sorry militias with their big guns, why can't we do the same in Iraq? I can hear the leftists in France in 1780 -- "we're only there for the timber and potash! We just want to establish our own frontier outposts to trade furs and get rich while our children staaaaarve!"