"It's wrong to attack unless attacked first". It's a good general principle but not a universal one. It also is just about useless in application to terrorists. I know why we went to war with Germany. I also know why we didn't finish the job in Iraq until 2003.

There wasn't the political will to spend loss of American life on finishing the job in Iraq until after 911 when the threat of people like Saddam became more real to most people. We waited until 2003 instead of right afterward to tackle the obvious first priority of Afghanistan, to build up enough troup and weaponry strength to do the job, and to give the UN one last chance to do its job right. I also doubt Clinton or Gore would have done anything effective in the same circumstances so the President in charge probably had something to do with it as well.

Regards,
Mark