The intelligence reports from the CIA, British intelligence agencies, and others, which stated that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, were believed by every major western and middle eastern power.
Clinton believed them....Gore believed them...Blair believed them....as did Chirac and a host of others. These reports predated the Bush administration by several years....he didn't invent them. Not only did Saddam have nerve agents, he had already used them. There was good reason to believe that he was developing a nuclear weapons program....no matter what leftist hindsight says in its attempts to rewrite the past.
While I mourne the loss of American troops in Iraq, I believe that they have not been in vain. No wmd's have been found, but a mass-murderer has been brought to justice. Mistakes have been made during the occupation, and that has caused a setback to the timetable for restructuring the country and its government. The democrats whipped up a lot of opposition to the war as a result, and rode it to victory in the election of 2006.
And yet....and yet....the war and the restructuring efforts are grinding inexorably toward success. Their opposition to the "surge" has proven to be an embarassment to the war's opponents....and Iraq has been safer within the last 6 months than at any time over the last four years.
Certainly our casualties should not be taken lightly, but a little perspective is in order. We lost twice as many during the month it took to subdue the island of Iwo Jima as it has over the last six years in Iraq.
By the way, trolls come in many breeds. They are all a contentious lot, that squabble and bicker and argue continuously. They refuse to yield a point and refuse to learn from their mistakes. Yet, the worst of the lot are those that do not recognize the fact that they are, indeed, trolls themselves.
