WASHINGTON -- After Vietnam and Operation Mongoose (the bizarre 1962 attempt by the U.S. military to invent covert "pretexts" for an attack on Cuba), only flag-waving militarists and small children could want to believe current U.S. and British excuses for the attack on Iraq.
Among the more transparent is the one that says Islamic extremism and anti-U.S. "terrorism" must be countered. Iraq happens to be among the more secular of the Middle Eastern Islamic nations, and had no involvement in the recent attacks on the United States by Islamic militants.
Equally strange is the excuse that says the U.S. goal is to spread democracy in the Middle East. Democracy means free elections. Any genuinely free election in any Islamic nation today will almost certainly see radical Islamist parties come to the fore. That is what happened when Algeria planned elections in 1992. Curiously, democracy-loving Washington shows no sign of distress over the cruel denial of almost certain victory for the Islamic Salvation Party in that election.