Iraq is an excellent place for a war with Muslim extremism for several reasons. It is a nation that has historically had a secular government rather than one closely based on the Sharia. I think that with a few years of American occupation…then a few years of American support…Iraq could be the first Arab nation to adopt a more liberal form of government. I am also heartened by the fact that hundreds of foreigners have flooded into Iraq to fight the occupation troops. These “crusaders” can be killed by Americans in Iraq before they get a chance to do damage to civilian targets down the road. Even if our experiment to create a liberal democracy in fails we will have killed a great number of those extremists who could have been a threat later and we have a continuing military presence in the Middle east that can be a trap for those who want to target the U.S. with terrorism. When President Bush said, “Bring it on!” I smiled while foolish people on the left cried and whined about how insensitive the President is.

John, the reason I like these things is my experience on 9-11. I live in northern Virginia and on 9-11 I Was outside about a mile from the Pentagon when I heard the plane crash into it. I watched the trade Center burn then collapse on TV while I watched the Pentagon burn outside the window shy. For three weeks after 9-11 I smelled the stench of the burned building and bodies on my way to work as I drove on the detour around Rt. 110 past the smashed and burned portion of the Pentagon. I hate the barbarians that did this. We can’t directly target the slimeballs who attacked us but we can create an environment where those who would do this in the future can be killed now in Iraq. The more we kill now the better.

The other reason you give is that we can, through military force, establish a “city on a hill”. This is dubious at best. This reason also does not specify Iraq. It could be used as a justification for attacking any number of countries.