The war was justified on more grounds than WMD. We personally argued about that before the war. Just because you thought WMD was the only possible justification does not mean the rest of us did or that Bush did. Attempts to claim otherwise are simply false. WMD was the primary justification, but not the only one, and not even the overwhelming one for most people. US Polls after the war clearly showed that the positive outcome on the supporting justifications was sufficient to regard the war positively even if no WMD were found. Constant attempts to spin otherwise are extremely transparant. I think Bush is dead wrong on many issues, but his critics on this issue will suffer the same fate for underestimating Bush as they have on earlier issues. They need to attack him on real failures not the ones they wish he had.

The resuts of the Bahgdad poll are not clear cut, but they clearly suggest my interpretation. What is your justification for a positive future outlook if everything is as bad and bleak as you claim? The polls are quite clear that they are glad Saddam is gone so we have in fact liberated Iraq if we leave a decent stable government on our departure as the Iragis appear to expect. They also want and expect the very form of government we hoped this war would promote. Clear positives that you claim you can't see.

Regards,
Mark