We are at war! This is why we are fighting.

[Rolo]

I agree that the Iraq war has little to do with the reason behind the 9/11 attack (ofcourse the terrorist did use the situation in Iraq and others places to justify their actions), however 9/11 did cause a new US military doctrine change from the Clinton "reaction" to Bush "preemption", since you can not fight terrorists by waiting for them to strike first, and then do a "reaction". So, if 9/11 had never happende, then Bush had not had a reason to change the US military doctrine, and the war in Iraq would had to be sold on only the "reaction" doctrine (ex. Saddam did not follow the UN resolutions etc.).

Now was Iraq a mistake? I do not think so - if Saddam had been in power today, then Osama would still be able to use the UN sanctions against Iraq as a reason to hate the US - Saddam would probably also be trying to use the weak US policy to damage the US intrests (ex. expanding the idea on petro-euros instead of petro-dollars) etc. but I´m guessing, and so do everyone who think that Iraq was a mistake - no one knows what would have happende, its more constructive to look at the future...

The same goes for Osama.. we can blame Bush for not getting Osama, but it doesn´t change the situation about Osama today... we need to know which President is most likely to do the things we want in the future (and here is my problem with Kerry - his visions for the future are drowning in the "anti bush" rhetoric).