so, why exactly are we in iraq?

Today the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its report finding that despite the de facto Administration's implications and outright assertions (Cheney above all), there were NO links between Saddam's Iraq and Osama Bin Laden. In fact, Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as a threat. Saddam has said (in his captivity) if he had wanted to align with an enemy of the United States, he would have allied with North Korea or China -- not Al Qaeda. Hell, he even tried to CAPTURE Al-Zarqawi, he wasn't sheltering him.

The only thing surprising about this finding is that the Republicans let it be released. Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe sided with the Democrats to agree to this conclusion, putting honesty ahead of partisanship.

The report also shed light on our intelligence screwups before we invaded. Remember how we said Saddam had WMD, and Iraq was hiding them? This report confirmed again that we were wrong and wrong. And wrong. Basically, under pressure from political figures in the Administration (Yes, Dick Cheney chief among them -- remember his visits to the CIA to meet with analysts. No pressure there, I'm sure.), our intelligence types were too quick to believe the bullshit being peddled by Chalabi and his Iraq National Congress exiles. Who, come to think of it, being exiled were maybe not in the best position to know what was going on in Iraq...

So the Senate Intelligence committee reconfirms: Iraq was NOT linked to 9/11 or international terrorism, and Iraq had no WMD.

One more thing to keep in mind when assessing the honesty and competence of this Administration.