Of course it has never been about either Iraq or Afghanistan either one. Afghanistan was just a convenient place to go after the symptom of AQ and to bring some well earned revenge down on their heads.

Iraq was just the retarded kid playing in middle of the street that got run over. A tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No, what it is about is securing the United States and developing new Ways and Means to promote and preserve our national interests in a manner that is far less controlling (Cold War era), arrogant ( Clinton era) or aggressively violent (Bush era). In a manner that backs down to no one, but at the same time does not excessively press anyone without just cause either. To stand for concepts of liberty and self-determination; to apply the great natural and human resources of this great nation to overcome our current fiscal and security challenges and to emerge stronger, more vibrant, and more of a leader by our very example: and not by the promise of force or the threat of withholding favors.

This is the nation we see ourselves as, and this is the nation we can once again become. I am confident of that. After all, unlike any other nation in the world, the U.S. has the perfect ideology of popular empowerment to excel in the world emerging around us.