So why did we go to war again? Both times?

Oh, that tricky al-Qaida. First we go to war in Afghanistan to try and get them. Then, we go to Iraq to try and get them. (For those of you who are citizens of Oceana, we were not always going to war with Iraq to Liberate the Iraqi People. That particular meme didn't creep in until it became apparent to the White House that no one was buying their other excuses. It's like they were saying "They have ties to al-Qaida! No, you don't buy that, eh. Okay, how about they have weapons of mass destruction? Doesn't sound good to you either, eh. Okay, then let's Liberate the Iraqi People! Like that one?" To quote John Stewart, it's like they think we're retarded.) And yet, they continue to elude us.

R I Y A D H, Saudi Arabia, May 14— Saudi authorities linked the al Qaeda terror group to the attacks on foreign housing compounds that killed at least 34 people and warned that more terror attacks could lie ahead...."These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate, and the United States will find the killers, and they will learn the meaning of American justice," said Bush during an address on Tuesday.

The Saudi government says the attacks are connected to 19 al Qaeda operatives who engaged in a gunfight with police in Riyadh on May 6.

So, why did we go to war again? To diminish the power of al-Qaida? It seems as though we were as successful at that as we were at improving the lives of the Afghanis and finding those mysterious weapons of mass destruction. (The jury's still out on whether or not we've improved the lives of the Iraqi people in the long run, but in the short run at least, it doesn't look too good to me.)

Over the past few years I think I've learned "the meaning of American justice." A bunch of people die, and none of the things we were supposed to accomplish actually gets done in the end. How nice.

Hesiod has a nice post about this, too.