The Invasion of Iraq Was Necessary

Suddenly, the gotcha question for aspiring Republican presidential candidates is, knowing what they do now, would they invade Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein?

The right answer is supposed to be “No,” on the grounds that the intelligence Saddam had chemical and biological weapons was wrong.

Actually, would-be presidents should respond with an unapologetic “Yes” to invading Iraq – with the caveat that, knowing what we know now, we certainly wouldn’t conduct the post-invasion operation the way we did.

It was absolutely necessary to overthrow a tyrant with a record of state-sponsorship of terrorism and a stated aspiration to get even with us for his defeat in Kuwait, who was then about to get out from under international sanctions on his regime.

Mistakes made after Iraq’s liberation don’t negate the wisdom of undertaking it.