For Reminders of Iraq, Depend on Barone

Michael Barone's most recent column reviews the recent book War and Decision by retired Defense Department number 3 Douglas Feith. We find this paragraph a particularly helpful reminder about that war that everyone knows was so stupid:

Unfortunately—and here Feith is critical of his ultimate boss, George W. Bush—the administration allowed its critics to frame the issue around the fact that stockpiles of weapons weren't found. Here we see at work the liberal fallacy, apparent in debates on gun control, that weapons are the problem, rather than the people with the capability and will to use them to kill others. The fact that millions of law-abiding Americans have guns is not a problem; the problem is that criminals can get them and have the will to kill others. Similarly, the fact that France has WMDs is not a problem; the fact that Saddam Hussein had the capability to produce WMDs and the will to use them against us was.