Is the War in Iraq Good or Bad?

My new friend John down in Memphis sent me this link from a BBC programme about how politicians (neo-cons) have appropriated 9/11 for their own purposes, essentially that they're capitalizing on our worst fears. John believes 9/11 is a crime not an act of war, and that we're not in grave jeopardy anymore than the IRA was a threat to the British way of life.

Here's my response:

I guess a series of deadly nightclub bombings over a decade seems small compared to simultaneously hijacking four large airplanes, taking out two 117-story towers, killing 3,500 people and destroying a good chunk of the Pentagon. But is that just my ethnocentrism? :-)
I'm a centrist politically. But 9/11 did change something in me forever. I don't trust Muslim terrorists to be moderate in their actions. I don't trust them to stop until they've unleashed nuclear Armageddon.

From the 23rd floor of a building overlooking the Hudson River, my co-worker, Ed Klink watched the second airplane hurtling toward the Trade Center. He heard the horrifying thud from the explosion that rocked lower Manhattan. My Horsesmouth co-workers were evacuated as thick smoke, ash and debris filled their building.

I can't forget 9/11.

If that was just a massive crime scene perpetrated by 19 individuals who are currently dead, what have we got to fear?

That 19 more individuals with the same hatred, hell-bent for Paradise, will set loose an even larger crime scene with nukes or a bio attack.

Does that wipe out the U.S.A.? No. But if our markets can't depend on us thwarting off attack, we've got a big problem, bigger even than losing thousands or millions of people. If the terrorists can put a permanent scare into our economy, they will bankrupt us. And that is what bin Laden wants to do. That is his ultimate hope, and what he claimed he did to the Soviet Union.

So, how do we deal with that? We pull the rug out. We change the equation in the Middle East. Too many young Arab men have no occupation but terrorism. Give them something to shoot for in life -- figuratively. Work over the long-term to improve the living standards in the Middle East and suddenly a one-way ticket to Paradise won't be their best option. Facilitate elections and new leaders. Already with Hussein and Arafat out of the way, there is new hope. Help people start businesses, and honest endeavors. Help them discover the joy of free speech and free markets. Isn't that what really ended communism in Europe?

See, I'm a true capitalist! :-)