Neither the MSM nor the right or left propaganda apparats have ever fully discussed the real reasons we went to war in the Middle East, although it is patently obvious to anyone who has ever read history or political geography. The US aim was to install a pro-American and oil-rich puppet regime in the heart of the region which bordered on and presented a threat to any state which could potentially harbor or aid the Jihadist cause. Simultaneously, it would put our most dangerous rival and enemy in the region, Iran, between Iraq and a hard Afghanistan. We were trying to re-cast the role of the Shah. Everything else, WMDs, Al-Quaeda, Saddam's evil ways, everything else, was an excuse and a smokescreen to cover this up. Even liberal Americans have a hard time coming to grips with this, although all our enemies apparently guessed our intentions right from the start.

I'm certainly not swayed by my alleged slavish attention to the New York Times and I certainly make no moral judgements here. It may not even have been a bad idea, if it had worked. But it did not, in fact, the situation has now deteriorated where these aims are unattainable, only the collateral justifications remain. That is failure, to anyone who can read a map. I don't need the liberal press to tell me that, and I certainly don't expect the conservative media and their running dogs to 'fess up to it.