30 countries

And what about Kerry's comment that there were 30 countries that had greater capacity WMD than Iraq? That can't be right unless he is counting countries like France or Israel. Does he mean we should have invaded them first?

Of course what he means is that the problem is the WMD themselves rather than the regimes that have them. Here is the sharpest difference between the two world views. In one, the problem that we have enemies, in the other it is that some nations break a rules. The conservatives want to use violations of rules to offer an excuse to destroy our enemies. The rule is really secondary. In liberals want to make the rules stronger. Making the rules stronger means being as ready or even more ready to enforce those rules against our freinds as against our enemies.

This is a real philosophical difference with reasonable arguments on either side. The problem is that neither side in the debate is really willing to make its case forthrightly. The reason is that the American public believes that both are right--that it is better to be feared than to be loved and that we can bring about peace through rule-enforcing international organizations--and doesn't want the contradictions between the two views forced into thier consciousness.

And here is the problem. The President really was distorting the truth about his reasons for going into Iraq. He had made the judgment that Iraq was an enemy that would one way or another do us great harm. It was his judgment about the regimes nature and intentions that drove the decision. the WMD (or at least the stockpiles) and the United Nations were just means to eliminating an enemy. Of course the WMD mattered, but not the stockpiles--one or two in the hands of the Al Qaeda agents Iraqi intellegence officers were meeting with were more than enough to make 9/11 look like a picnic. If you believe that the world is a place where you have enemies and that ultimately you are on your own then his decision was the right one. But giving his real reasons for the decision would require him to challenge a belief that the median American voters still rather likes having, thank you, that international institutions mean something.

Kerry's problem is the mirror image of Bush's. If you believe as Kerry does that international institutions and a legals system so administered is the real key to security then you really can't take the law into your own hands. You have to wait till the crime is committed and then wait till an impartial body, one that your enemy has as much right to be a part of as you do, rules that you can do something. You really do need a permission slip.

Of course there are circumstances under which Kerry would act without international sanction, just as there are plenty of international bodies that Bush is just fine with cooperating with. But ultimately you have to make a choice between the two worldviews. And that is a choice the American public does not want to directly confront.