Reply #11: Exactly!!

[Mandate My Ass]

Neal says that Bush is such a softie, he couldn't bear the thought of suffering Iraqis but he would have met too much resistance if he used the humanitarian angle to start the war. But what he conveniently leaves out is that war and invasion is an invalid, illegal and unjustifiable method of providing relief.

Neal almost redeems himself at the end of the article. He says:

Whatever the case, the argument that it is a good thing that Hussein is gone and the argument that the Bush administration may have lied to or misled the public on the issue of weapons of mass destruction are not mutually exclusive. Both could be true. And if they are, the former fact won't exonerate the president if the latter is true as well.

But that is after going through all kinds of gyrations to say "shock and awe" was our way of lending a helping hand to Iraq.