I was referring to a particular breed of conservative...the neocons. The conservatism embraced by Ronald Reaganfor example, was far more astute. He understood that the real threat to the Soviet Union wasn't American military might, but rather the weakness of their economy and the value of increasing economic and business relationships with Europe and the United States. Combined with a powerful philosophical message, the Soviet oligarchy crumbled at the hands of its own people.

For the record, I am not a left-wing peacenik. I firmly believe in the value of American military strength. And I do believe in decisive military action to protect American lives and retain our security. My problem with the Iraq war has always been that it was a bad idea, bad upon a bad premise, bostlered by bad intelligence. The rush to war was completely unnecessary. The sanctions, no-fly zones and U.N. inspectoions were working. Saddam Hussein was not a threat. We would have been far better off finishing our work in Afghanistan and working politically for the day when Saddam Hussein would inevitably fall from power.

Today's conservatives are a shadow of what conservatism was in the past. They are sound-bite idealogues whose policy initiatives are not supported by data, experience or reality.