Swatting Helen Thomas

Jonah Goldberg, always among my favorite conservative writers, has an interesting column today on National Review about the many reasons we invaded Iraq. His general point is that the Bush administration, gun-shy after the WMD story turned up wrong, has been too reticent to defend itself and instead has turned to democracy as the main criteria.

The whole thing is worth reading, but the last two paragraphs are great:

In the 1990s, Hussein tried to kill a former U.S. president and tried to shoot down British and American planes enforcing the "no-fly" zone. The Clinton administration -- not the George W. Bush administration -- established "regime change" as our policy toward Iraq. In the years that followed, the Iraqi regime openly celebrated the 9/11 attack. And when we tried to get Hussein to come clean about a weapons program we (and his own generals!) had every reason to believe existed, he played games. After 9/11, calling that bluff wasn't a "choice," it was an obligation.

One reason Bush is down in the polls is that he's giving the impression that he's trying to change the subject from "our mistaken invasion" to "building democracy in Iraq." Building democracy in Iraq is vital — and entirely consistent with the highest aspirations of liberal foreign policy. But he would serve himself and the county better if he simply explained that he's been right all along. Swatting Helen Thomas is a start, but it will take a lot more.