The war in Iraq, explained
Andrew McCarthy has contributed an essay on the war in Iraq which should be required reading for all Americans. McCarthy takes John Kerry's premise that the war is a "diversion" from the war on terror, and makes the case that Kerry is right, although not in the way that Kerry thinks.
McCarthy argues that the "war on terror" is inappropriately named, and is truly a "war on militant Islam." This mislabeling has in part led to our difficulties in Iraq, both real and perceived. He makes a compelling argument for why the WMD argument was always the wrong one, and why those weapons truly didn't matter.
The Bush Administration's line on why the war was justified though no WMDs showed up was that Saddam was a murderous dictator. While true, it is still not why we should have gone to war. If we were waging a "war on militant Islam", it would be very easy to make the case that Saddam has been at least as enabling of militant Islam as the Taliban was.
If we stated our mission differently, our goals would become more clear: the eradication of enemy militants. Not the confiscation of weapons, not the installation of a democracy. Thus, when encountering a situation like Fallujah last spring, where a city is infested with militants, our objective dictates we wipe them out. We do not leave them there to fester in the hopes that our restraint will aid in the foundation of democracy.
Truly a great article. Read the whole thing.
McCarthy argues that the "war on terror" is inappropriately named, and is truly a "war on militant Islam." This mislabeling has in part led to our difficulties in Iraq, both real and perceived. He makes a compelling argument for why the WMD argument was always the wrong one, and why those weapons truly didn't matter.
The Bush Administration's line on why the war was justified though no WMDs showed up was that Saddam was a murderous dictator. While true, it is still not why we should have gone to war. If we were waging a "war on militant Islam", it would be very easy to make the case that Saddam has been at least as enabling of militant Islam as the Taliban was.
If we stated our mission differently, our goals would become more clear: the eradication of enemy militants. Not the confiscation of weapons, not the installation of a democracy. Thus, when encountering a situation like Fallujah last spring, where a city is infested with militants, our objective dictates we wipe them out. We do not leave them there to fester in the hopes that our restraint will aid in the foundation of democracy.
Truly a great article. Read the whole thing.
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