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It is now about as clear as it's going to get that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.

No, it's not. There are endless hiding places amidst the seas of sand, not to mention trails that lead into other countries, that we have not yet investigated. Many will not be checked until Iraq is pacified, and we have assets to spare.

Secretary of State Colin Powell even contradicted himself (in his U.N. speech) by admitting recently that there is no evidence of any link between Saddam and al-Qaida.

Al Qaida is not why we went into Iraq. North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, and a host of other nations that proliferate WMD are. We had to make an example out of Iraq, who resisted peaceful resolutions for 12 years, before we can move on to curbing the ambitions of other rogue nations.

In fact, the Iraqis had been saying that for years, and the Bush administration replied, "You're lying."

As did Clinton. Remember 'Desert Fox'? The Iraqi WMD shell game has been going on for years.

The facts on the ground prove that the Iraqis, whom President Bush called liars, were telling the truth.

No, it doesn't. Just the opposite. The Iraqis never produced any evidence that they destroyed their known stockpiles. That would be very easy to prove, had they done so. Had they brought our weapons inspectors to the site where they destroyed their WMD, tests could have been run to confirm it. This has not happened.

Somewhere, there is either residue of destroyed WMDs, or WMDs themselves. There is no third option.

It makes Bush either very badly mistaken or a liar.

Cute, but it ignores the possibility that they were destroyed or hidden abroad.

"Intelligence gathered by this government and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and to conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," Bush said on March 17. All the Bush people were asserting this to be a fact.

Not only the Bush people, but the dead Kurds and Iranians can attest to the effectiveness of Iraqi chemical weapons. This is not intelligence, it is historical fact.

Now we have nearly 500 dead Americans who died to protect the United States from weapons that don't exist.

Not only is that not true, but now we're ensuring that illicit WMD production won't start up in Iraq. We're also encouraging other rogue nations, like Libya, that the road to WMDs does not lead to more security.

And more will die, and for what reason? So Halliburton and other big corporations can make a lot of money?

Not a bad point, if you're given to conspiracy theories.

So Israel can feel safer?

That's a side benefit. Israel is a liberal democratic republic surrounded by despotic thugs. As a matter of principal we should support them whenever possible.

So we can have permanent military bases in Iraq?

Nothing is permanent. Ask the Panamanians, Filipinos, French, or the Germans. Note our steadily dwindling troop levels in South Korea and Japan. As threats fade, we fade. Not very imperial of us, of course, but we get by.

So the president can strut about and call himself the Conqueror of Iraq?

A thoroughly childish statement.

One thing you can be sure of: They won't die defending the United States, because Iraq is not now and never was a threat to the United States.

Not so. They're serving two vital purposes. The first purpose is that they are showing other rogue nations we are serious when we ask them to abide by their obligations to disarm or not arm in the first place. If Iraq could get 12 years of 'one more chance's out of us, why should Iran or North Korea listen to what we say? You simply can't negotiate without credibility.

The second purpose is that they're forcibly restructuring the Middle East from the inside. Even a half baked clunky democratic government would be a vast improvement over any other Arabic nation, and would be an example for others to emulate. The strong men and theocrats fear nothing more than our ultimate success in Iraq, with good reason.

Both of these ends strike at the hearts of our 21st century threats. We've demonstrated our resolve to our more intractable enemies, and begun to poison the well of tyranny that flows throughout the Arab world. It is grim and thankless work, but in the long run, far, far better than letting the cancers grow untreated.

This is far more serious than anything Bill Clinton did.

Amen, brother. Amen.