To imply (I think that's how I read it) that Bush intended to go into Iraq long before 9/11 is not something I'd agree with.

No, I wasn't really implying that with what I was saying but there is certainly pretty hard evidence that it's something that was in the works. Those articles MJG posted, for example, are pretty damning for the Bush administration. I'm really just looking at the basics of the situation though, not so much what all these Republican think tanks devised over the years. These politicians are always playing games and analyzing strategy though. I don't only mean the right either.

  I think 9/11 changed a lot of things for Bush.  It has totally absorbed his presidency and everything he's done since then has been in response to it.  He's almost paranoid I suppose but I'm not going to fault him for that...not yet.

I think you're really giving Bush a lot of credit. I sort of believe you're doing this because you're a really good guy filled with all these good intentions and you're projecting how you would feel on to him. If Kevin G. were president, then yeah...you might be all consumed with the situation and have good intentions at heart but from my perspective this looks like they saw an opportunity and snatched it.  

I know we can't be the police of the world and to be credible at all you've got to have consistency in how you deal with these situations. 

One thing I can say is that our government, and I'm not just talking about this administration, is pretty consistant with these situations. I think it's always viewed with an eye toward what benefits our country best or sometimes more specifically what benefits the current administration best...and if that's letting a bunch of people get killed then that's what they do.  

 We're guilty of bringing Saddam into power for what we thought was a greater good and we were wrong.  Is it right then that we wash our hands of the matter for all time to come?

I've always went along with the idea that Saddam had to go but I don't agree with the way this was done. It's left us with a bad situation, our troops are getting killed, we've created a fiasco with the UN, can't get support from other nations, our president looks like a liar to our nation and the world, the "bully our way through this" plan has left us even more hated than ever, our economy is a mess and we're dumping 4 billion a month into Iraq and looking for 87 billion more to spend on it, we've got members of the current administration leaking names of our operatives to the press, spys right under our nose wearing our uniforms in Guantanamo Bay, if terrorism is still a threat to us on our soil we've done nothing to protect our own shipping ports, and these guys just keep looking worse and saying dumber stuff every time you turn around.

 Sure, I care about our country and how we're percieved and I know that our image to the rest of the world is important but what is more important to me is that we're doing what is right and not what makes us look good. 

Well, that's the thing...I don't think it was right to get us into this situation and they didn't get us into it because they wanted to save Iraqi lives. They also didn't get us into it because Iraq was a threat to us, at least this is what the evidence shows. So, I guess the question you have to ask is, why did they get us into it and was it for the right reasons. It's certainly not making us look good so if that was a reason it sure has failed in that regard.

 This war is about much more than us. Will good win out?  I don't know but I believe we're on its side.

See I think it's real odd that they won't even define this "War", it's all so vague. You would think they would want to tell the American people why our troops have to be put in harms way but they don't really want to say. They have used false information and lied about the reasons. Why? They have been forced to retract statements that they made because they were untrue. As these things happen, rather than really address what's going on, instead they prop Bush up in front of us and he starts talking about mass graves and rape rooms. Remember nothing this guy says is off the cuff, it's all scripted and gone over hundreds of times. Why the big secret? It really seems something stinks here and the clock is ticking for Bushco. It's also odd that they keep asking for help but they don't want to turn over control of the situation in Iraq to the UN which is what Germany, France, and Russia have all said they want. Putin told Bush his help there is dependent upon it. Now Bush won't even produce an exit strategy, so at this point I guess he may be just doing his "Please Help Us In Iraq" tour for kicks because there seems to be no intent to turn Iraq over at this point. Even though it would get our boys some help and we could bring some of them home and it would cost us less money and less of them would be getting killed. It keeps coming back to why, why, why? It really just looks like the Bush administration is incapable and or unwilling to be upfront about anything. 

                                                                        Reg