“We can demonize President Bush and former Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld all we want, or wish they presented their views in a kindlier and
more artful fashion. We can wish that the United States were better at
training Iraqis and killing terrorists to secure Iraq. But the same
general mess in the Middle East will still confront Bush's and Rumsfeld's
successors.
“And long after the present furor over Iraq dies down, the idea of trying
to help democratic reformers fight terrorists, and to distance America
from failed regimes that are antithetical to our values, simply will not
go away.
“That tough idealism will stay - because in the end it is the only right
and smart thing to do.”
