Re: War, images, and selective vision
You're overstating, Tom. Dictatorships end all the time without foreign invasions, sometimes even with little bloodshed. Even Iraq could've followed the Nigeria route of a benevolent dictator taking over from an awful one and bringing democracy. It's logically consistent to oppose the war based on the hope for a less bloody transition to democracy, just as it's logically consistent to argue that that possibility is too remote to justify waiting.
As for motives, I think Bush is all about psychology, even if he doesn't understand it. He wants revenge for the attempted assassination of his father, and he also wants to, for once, outdo his father in something. The rest of the admin. is just playing at being Metternichs.