…going to send American troops into Iraq to kill and be killed — because Iraq might have weapons of mass destruction.
But as for North Korea:
Answering questions on his way into the only coffee shop in this one-stoplight town near his ranch, Mr. Bush issued no demands that North Korea halt the nuclear programs it has threatened to restart, and he did not mentioned the ouster today of the international inspectors who have monitored activity at the country’s primary nuclear site.
“I believe this is not a military showdown, this is a diplomatic showdown,” the president said, on his way to get a cheeseburger and to chat with his neighbors here.
If we know the country has weapons of mass destruction, or at least will within months, and yet diplomacy is still an option — well, it sure makes the rationales for war with Iraq look even thinner. It’s almost enough to make you think that they’re not being entirely honest with us about their motives for this thing (cough cough world’s secondlargestprovenoilreserves cough cough).
I’ve seen it suggested around the blogosphere that cheap oil is actually a perfectly acceptable reason for war, or at least a happy byproduct to be embraced. Tell it to the families of the servicemen and women who don’t make it home.