Orin Kerr writing on The Volokh Conspiracy has three questions he proposes to right-wing bloggers:

• First, assuming that you were in favor of the invasion of Iraq at the time of the invasion, do you believe today that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea? Why/why not?
• Second, what reaction do you have to the not-very-upbeat news coming of Iraq these days, such as the stories I link to above?
• Third, what specific criteria do you recommend that we should use over the coming months and years to measure whether the Iraq invasion has been a success?

Simple questions but as I thought about my answers and conversations I’ve had with other citizens I realized that whatever reasons I present to support my view will be meaningless without context. The context in this case represents the fundamental difference between right and left this election. Context in this case comes down to your understanding of one word:
Zeitgeist.
For some of us, September 11th 2001 changed everything. For others of us, it changed nothing or was a temporary aberration which we have moved past.
In my case 9/11 and the days and months that followed changed everything. I have come to understand that we are at war with Islamofascism, an enemy who has no desire to negotiate or compromise. An enemy whose only goal is to murder us and our children. Moreover, an enemy fervently willing to die for the eternal glory of having murdered us and our children.
The enemy is not, as John Kerry would have you believe, Usama bin Laden as he cowers in a remote cave. The enemy isn’t even al-Queda or its satellite organizations.
The enemy is the cancer of Islamic fundamentalism and the oppressive regimes that protect it.
And cancer it is: Islamic fundamentalism is a sickness, a disease that we have ignored far too long, allowing the infection to spread to the remotest corners of the world. It will require aggressive treatment to conquer this disease: ruthlessly cutting out infected areas combined with medicinal doses of democracy, freedom and money.
That belief is the context for my answers to Mr. Kerr’s questions, as I believe that the world must confront the problem at its source.

First, assuming that you were in favor of the invasion of Iraq at the time of the invasion, do you believe today that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea? Why/why not?

1. Changing the zeitgeist: I agree with my president’s vision of a changed Middle East. I trust that our soldiers can protect the Iraqi people long enough to allow a fledgling democracy take root. Not our version of democracy perhaps, but a form of democracy that will give a degree of freedom to Iraqi citizens that will be the envy of the region.
   But more, it will give hope to the people in the region. As freedom and economic prosperity take hold, the experiment of a Middle East democracy will become that to which every Middle East citizens will aspire to.
   Except, of course, for Islamofascists.

2. Winds of Change: After only three years there is already proof that changing the Middle East is an achievable goal. In spite of centuries of oppressive governments and a culture of enslavement, the winds of change are blowing throughout the region.
   In Afghanistan, a woman is running for president. In Saudi Arabia, many of the sources of terrorist funds have been cut off and there are free elections taking place at the local level. In Morocco, sweeping reforms have been put into place. In Syria, the Hamas headquarters in Damascus has been closed and there is talk of changing the constitution to allow dialog with Israel. In Iran, the people are increasingly clamoring for the overthrow of the mullahs and the establishment of a democracy. In Libya … well, everyone knows what happened in Libya.
   There are many, many more examples. Would these have happened without the invasion of Iraq? Some would have, some would not. But even those that would have happened eventually have taken place on an accelerated time-line, thanks to the resolve of our president and the effectiveness of our troops.

3. Flypaper theory: I find it incomprehensible that people doubt that foreign terrorists that would otherwise be attacking western interests elsewhere are now fighting and dying in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi and friends are busy shoring up an increasingly unpopular insurgency instead of bombing our embassies or flying planes into our skyscrapers.
   They are fighting us in Iraq where we are alert and armed.
   The next time you walk into a WalMart and aren’t blown up by a homicide bomber, thank a soldier who has served in Iraq.

4. Support for terrorists: Saddam gave money to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Had he been allowed to stay in power there is little doubt that he would have eventually passed chemical or biological weapons into the hands of terrorists who would then come onto our soil.
   The president said we must confront those who would do us harm before they are able to do so. Having suffered 9/11 I wholeheartedly agree. Waiting until they attack us is no longer acceptable.

5. WMD: Post-liberation investigation has shown that Saddam had a nuclear program that was just waiting for us to turn our attention elsewhere so that he could flick a switch to turn it back on. It has shown that he was pursuing missile technology to deliver WMD.
   There is no doubt that Saddam was very interested in furthering his WMD technology and supply.
   I say furthering, because it has already been shown that Saddam had WMD in country (even the UN admits it). It is now stored in Syria and Lebanon. It has subsequently been used in Jordan and, perhaps, in Darfur.

6. Confronting evil: If the world is to destroy Islamofascism it must first confront it instead of passing resolution after useless, toothless resolution in the UN security council.
   Saddam was a destabilizing force in the Middle East. Now he is not. In his place is a promising young democracy that will become a stabilizing force in the region.
   The liberation of Iraq freed another 25 million people. It put an end to the mass graves and children’s prison. It put an end to the rape rooms and the infamous plastic shredder. It put an end to the torture of Olympians and mutilation of men accused of imaginary crimes.
   Finally, we had to move in to prove that the United States is not a paper tiger, that Afghanistan was not an aberration, that we mean what we say and are willing to back it up. Everyone knew Saddam had WMD and was thumbing his nose at us and the world. Now he’s not and tyrants tremble.

Second, what reaction do you have to the not-very-upbeat news coming of Iraq these days, such as the stories I link to above?
With disappointment that the situation is not improving as rapidly as one would hope. The news that the insurgency is still viable is as disappointing as the news in 1945-46 coming out of postwar Germany.
I temper my reaction with the news that is coming out of Iraq that does not make the front page of the big newspapers:

• The stories of heroism and patriotism on the part of Iraqi citizens.
• The stories of soldiers who have been there and returned, saying this is the right thing to do.
• The stories of the soldiers who have been there and returned, saying that we are winning.
• The stories of the soldiers who have been there and returned, saying that we are welcome in the vast majority of the country.
• The newsletters that I receive from a missionary who lives with his family in northern Iraq and tell of real progress and building trust with his Muslim friends.

Not that I do not feel sorrow for every casualty and mourn every death. Losses are hard to accept and quitting would be easy. But we cannot, must not quit. To do so would demoralize our troops and embolden our enemies. To do so would prove ruinous for the Iraqi people and the entire Middle East region. To do so would invite reprisal both here and abroad. To do so would imperil civilization.
Third, what specific criteria do you recommend that we should use over the coming months and years to measure whether the Iraq invasion has been a success?
There are a series of clear milestones:

• Democratic elections: The elections should take place on schedule in the majority of the country and there should not be an unacceptable level of violence during the course of the day. Furthermore, there should be a smooth transition of power.

• Iraqi Forces: The number of trained policemen and Iraqi National Guardsmen must continue to increase at a reasonable pace. NATO is now helping with that effort.
• Winds of Change: The freedom movement should increase in strength throughout the region.
• Terrorist Funding: The Arabic sources of funds for terrorist operations must continue to dry up (although this point arguably belongs in the “Winds of Change” category).
• Prosperity: The Iraqi economy must continue to improve and people from across the region must continue to pump money into ventures made possible by the economic freedom available in the new country.
• Syrian WMD: One day, within the next decade, Saddam’s WMD will be found in Syria and Lebanon.
• WalMart Bomber: Every day that a few score terrorists die in Iraq and there are no bombings on U.S. soil is a victory. We will probably be attacked again one day, but at least we are doing what we can to prevent it.

Summary
During the course of a discussion of Iraq with a friend yesterday, he said that my views will mean a protracted war. He was drafted in ’69 and said that if things go the way I predict that my granddaughter could be fighting this same war one day.
I agreed. I believe that you cannot kill Islamofascism in a matter of years. I believe it will take at least a decade, perhaps two or three or even four. There is every reason to believe that my beloved littlest girl may one day be holding a rifle in a far off land fighting this horror.
If she should die in that cause it would be like a knife twisting in my gut every single day. It would be something to mourn but it would not be something to regret. For the cause is necessary, noble and just. We did not choose it, it was thrust upon us.
We are fighting for our very survival against an enemy so incomprehensibly different from us that they might as well be from another planet. They rape schoolchildren before murdering them by the hundreds. They celebrate murderers who strap bombs to themselves and blow up civilians. They seek the destruction of western technology and the establishment of Islamic tyrannies.
This is evil and it must be stamped out. I pray the president is correct and our generation can do it.

Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom — the great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time — now depends on us. Our nation — this generation — will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
– President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, September 2002.