The Big Picture

The situation in Iraq has shown beyond a doubt that Bush says what he means, and does what he says.  He’s a man of his word, much to the chagrin of the anti-war and anti-America kooks of the world.  (Including especially those anti-war and anti-America American kooks.)  Steve Den Beste lays out the big picture:

The goal of this war – the overall war, not just the battle of Iraq which is part of it – is to destabilize the entire region. That is the desirable outcome.

Destabilization is being portrayed by many as being an unintended side effect, a negative result which we are urged to work to limit. Those saying this are either naive or disingenuous, because it’s the primary reason for fighting in Iraq and always was. The goal is to bring about reform in a large number of nations in that region which have been mired in incompetent and brutal autocratic rule for decades. Conquering Iraq, and giving Iraq a liberalized government and a successful mercantile society will help bring that about.

This is truly a war of liberation. We are fighting, out of narrow self interest, to liberate the Arab people from the chains of tribalism and religious extremism and authoritarianism which bind them. We intend to liberate, and liberalize, the entire region over a generation, because if we do not they will keep attacking us and trying to kill us.