Keeping It Real

Now that John Kerry has (finally) declared that the invasion of Iraq was wrong and accused Bush of living in a "fantasy world of spin", the vast liberal left-wing conspiracy media is eagerly embracing this new theme with a whole-hearted burst of renewed energy.

My old New Age friends, who believe we all create the world we live in every day, would no doubt empathize with this particular take on the "fantasy world" thing:

"To me, the most striking aspect of the Iraqi situation is that this administration's fundamentalist occupation of Iraq emboldened, even (you might say) created, its own dream enemy. Soon after the insurgency there gained modest strength, the President declared Iraq 'the central front in the war on terrorism' -- and as with one of those genies in some old Arabian tale, Poof! It was so. "

Personally, I prefer a more realistic, direct and logical approach, as articulated elsewhere in the same article:

"The United States should just pull out of Iraq.

There are many issues in politics that are very complicated. The war in Iraq is not one of them. Common sense in regard to this war rests on two rock-solid pillars:

(1) The United States should never have invaded Iraq.

(2) Now it should set a timetable to withdraw and leave.

These two propositions go together. The litany of reasons why it was wrong to invade Iraq -- that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the country, no ties to Al Qaeda and only the dimmest prospect of democracy -- are the same as the reasons why it is now wrong to remain there."