Wasn't this "Mission Accomplished" last spring? One year ago we were being shocked and awed after whatsisname refused to give up his "weapons of mass destruction." Since there were no weapons to be found, we settled on weapons programs and giving the Iraqis the freedom to discontinue living under the despotic rule of one man with a distorted vision of the world to the freedom to live under the continual fear of terrorist attacks from a group of people with a distorted vision of the world. Either way, Baghdad won't be winning any "Best places to live" contests any time soon, unless it's in "Soldier of Fortune."

As for the Foreign Policy principles, it has been noted that "Iraq II: This Time it's Personal" was the first ever pre-emptive war waged by the United States. Unfortunately the main justification for doing so (i.e. the weapons program) ended up being a bunch of drawings and scribblings by scientists who wanted to keep their cushy scientist day job. Apparently, the idea of the program is all that Saddam required.

Perhaps we should continue in this vein: go to war against a country and invent the reason as we go along, maybe, eventually something will stick.

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