The invasion was not about the United States setting up bases or stealing Iraq’s oil or using Iraq for an invasion of Iran, as Saddam’s apologists claimed. Nor was it about imposing democracy by force. It was about two things: stopping a time bomb that was ticking in the heart of the region and removing the impediment to democratization that was Saddam's regime.
More than a million Americans fought and worked in Iraq. They share part of the credit for the fact that Iraqis today are able to run their own lives without fear. They can be proud that, once again, American power was used to free a nation from tyranny.
Yes, the Iraq War was not a typical war for conquest or advantage, though we had vital interests involved in fighting in Iraq:
In many ways, contrary to the charge that we fight in Iraq for oil or Halliburton, our fight in Iraq is highly idealistic. Rather than settling for putting "our sonofabitch" in charge of Iraq, we are attempting to give the Iraqis the chance to live in a free country where ballots decide who sits in the government's offices.
We did a good thing by helping Iraqis achieve what they have. Let's help them achieve more. We worry that the Arab Spring will betray hopes of freedom for Arabs getting a first taste of life without corrupt autocrats. Why not help a people who have made more progress down that path than any who stood their ground on the streets in the Arab Spring?
