zk, sometimes you’ve just got to do what hasn’t been done before: democratize the Muslims (Ottoman Empire/Turkey), democratize Japan, pacify/return to democracy Germany. Otherwise, you have to deal with a bigger problem, later.

We differ: I believe that the terrorists are coming our way. They tried to blow up the World Trade Center in ’93, plotted to blow up a series of U.S.-bound planes via the Bojinka plot in the mid ’90s, etc. We can defeat the terrorists now, in Iraq, before they get nukes. Or, we can wash our hands of Iraq now, wait a few years for some nukes to hit the U.S., then deal with the terrorists thereafter.