A Good Instapundit Post

Which is why we all read Mr Reynolds. Read (this), then come back, I'll wait. Now lets do the exercise, that is, try to understand not just declaim loudly that on the basis of all my stories (on the right) these arguments proposed by the left don't make any sense. So how do we make sense of the left's position? Now I think one of the bloggers that Mr Reynolds quotes, (here) offers a good starting point. He mentions that the left would not have supported the war even if WMD had been found. I think this is basically correct. The left is operating under different assumptions what comprises Just War. Most of the left did support the campaign against Afghanistan because it was a direct response to al-Qaeda's 9/11 action. However since Saddam did not have any direct al-Qaeda connections, they feel the moral imperative to act against Saddam was lacking, end of story.

Discussions about WMD from both sides sidestep the real issues. The underlying issue here, is the so called Bush Doctrine and if it gives us justification for war and furthermore if that gives us the justification for attacking Iraq. Arguments about the war must use that as their starting point.