Why it Matters

Well, conservative commentator after conservative commentator has argued that this whole Africa story is a big bit of nonsense. That even if it was a lie, it's one small part of a much larger truth. Take Herbert London's assessment today. "The furor over nuclear material is a sideshow conducted to mobilize Democratic voters. As such, it is a sideshow with deadly consequences because it tries to obviate the legitimate conditions for invasion." I'm not sure what deadly consequences Mr. London is talking about; does he worry that we will hop in a time machine and go back and halt the invasion?

But let's run down how this invasion of Iraq has failed, so far. We didn't get Saddam. He's still out there, possibly waiting for a come back, once we leave. We didn't find the Weapons of Mass Distruction. Either they weren't there, or they have been transported to country X (to be determined after the election), or they just haven't been found yet. Now it's possible that the ongoing occupation will eventually lead to accomplishing both those goals, but until they have been accomplished, than there's nothing wrong with asking how we got here.