A valid question. I wish that Peggy had instead visited that question you pose, rather than what she did. All conservatives must carefully weigh our methods. I appreciate your well-argued position, but I can't help but feel that we are now entering an age where we can no longer allow to flourish those rogue states which think to train and arm terrorists against us, and then stand back and deny any involvement. We must be careful and calibrated in what actions we take, as you point out, but we no longer can afford to allow Cambodian-style safe havens. IF...that policy, as I suspect you fear, morphs into a general push to interfere with the sovereign right of other nations, then I will be one of the first to enlist under your banner. Until then, unless I read it wrong, we still are following the only course that may yet avert planetary religious warfare.
I could not agree with this more. States that threaten us should be taken down by any appropriate means. Knocking off Saddam qualified. So would knocking off the pot bellied pig in Pyongyang and maybe even the Khomeiniacs. But I think it important to be clear to the American people and to the world what we are doing.
If we are engaged in a process of destroying those who threaten us, say so. Bush has muddied his message with all the talk of spreading freedom and democracy in places that do not clearly indicate that they want it.