SECOND READER!!!
And a bit more feedback. More support for short blogs-- advice noted. (Not observed today, sorry, but I'll try in future.) Also, a question as to how I can be "so accepting of W and the Republicans"-- are they really in it for the "right reasons?" I suppose the remark refers to my praises of the Iraq war, and my vision of "compassionate conservatism" as embodying the Good Samaritan ideology. Great comment, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond. Two points:

1) The left's arguments against the Iraq war tend to focus on the administration's motives. Bush and Cheney just went to war for oil and power, and paranoia about WMDs. Bush care about freedom and democracy?! Absurd! Anyway, they never *said* it was about democracy; it's a little late to use that as a justification now.

Well, first, about the war. (I've been wanting to tell this parable for a while, so just laugh, don't take it as condescending):

An old woman is walking along the street when a car comes careening towards her. I leap into the street, grab the old woman and pull her to safety just in time.

You're looking on, and you're impressed. What a noble person I must be, risking my life to save an old woman!

But then you find out something. The woman owed me $10,000. Not only that: when I saved her, my only purpose was to get my money back. I didn't care about her life at all.

Well, knowing this, you won't admire me quite so much. On the contrary, it's a bit revolting that I cared more about money than about a woman's life. Still, you're not really any less happy that I did what I did: she's alive, that's the important thing.

This is my basic response to the claim that W and the Republicans don't have the "right reasons." The administration's motives are a secondary issue. The left is constantly damning the war as an oil grab. Well, what if it was? (It wasn't, but for the sake of argument.) It was still a good thing because of what it did for the people of Iraq, motives aside. If the far left had any real conscience (I used to think they had no brains but before April 9th I was willing to credit them with a conscience), that would be their position: "W is a greedy tool of the rich just grabbing oil, but hey-hey, he inadvertently did a lot of good!"

Still, the secondary question is also interesting. What were the Bush administration's motives?

First, oil is a red herring, and it's useful to think about why. The economics of the blood-for-oil argument are easily refutable, but I'll put that aside for now, and revisit it if anyone asks me about it. A different line of attack may have more useful lessons, because it throws light on the question, "How does a democracy make decisions?"

Okay. Bush doesn't care about what he pays at the gas pump. Agreed? I mean, the guy's a millionaire. He cares about getting re-elected. So if Bush wants oil, it's because he thinks that Joe Voter cares about it. Joe Voter may care about it directly, or he may care about it because low oil prices will boost the economy. Either way, though, Bush ought to *tell* Joe Voter that that's what he's doing! Otherwise how is he going to get any votes? Maybe an occasional voter will figure it out on his own. But that's hardly the usual strategy for a politician.

Now you can imagine what would happen if Bush made a speech to the American public proclaiming that the war in Iraq was a great way to get oil. He'd be crucified. Even his most hard-core supporters would duck for cover. Give a speech saying it's a war for democracy, and you win plaudits, at least once the war is safely over. The American people don't want to fight for oil. We are willing to fight for democracy. A president who wants to be re-elected should do what the American people want. That isn't to fight for oil. It's to fight for democracy.

Arundhati Roy wrote (with no support for her claim whatsoever) an article entitled "Wars are not fought for altruistic reasons." She has it 100% wrong. Wars are always fought for reasons that are, at least in some warped way, altruistic-- otherwise they're not worth dying for.

There's a lot more stuff that this makes me want to talk about but no doubt this post is too long already. By the way: I would like to mention the names of people who give me feedback, and quote them at length. So if you reply, let me know whether I have your permission to do this. Replies are very much appreciated!