It might have been the day he was wearing that cowboy hat.

There exists today in American political commentary two narratives about Iraq, terrorists, foreign policy, Israel, etc…

One is based on fact, objective empirical evidence, accurate accounting of events, etc.

The other is based on partial truth spun emotionally, primarily appealing to fear but also intolerance, and then fantasized into something all consuming and completely misguided.

We are in Iraq because we wanted to place permanent military bases there to project U.S. power over the oil rich region. We are not there because of any fantasy war on terror.

Yes, extremists calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq have formed since Bush bungled everything…..but that is no reason to have 130,000 American troops stationed there permanently. It just isn't. Obama understands that. So do most Americans.

Your comment here…

"Steve King was talking about Obama pulling out of Iraq and thus giving the extremists a victory over america in the heart of the Middle East in the war against terrorism…"

..reflects the fantasy narrative I'm talking about.

Why is it that believers in the Bush Doctrine can't get it in their heads that the extremists declared victory the moment American forces occupied Iraq? They won the moment Bush decided to occupy a Muslim country through unilateral force.

And it's unreasonable to think that al-Qaeda in Iraq are going to control the country of Iraq. The Shi-ites won't stand for it.

You repeat the "war on terrorism" bumper sticker which doesn't help because there is no such thing going on. Iraq has nothing to do with Islamic extremism. Iraq has everything to do with imperialism.

Those are facts, not fantasy. One narrative is true, the other isn't.

I assume you mean other than Saddam's brutal oppression, mass graves, rape rooms, torture chambers, mass murders, use of chemical weapons on the Kurds, invasion of Kuwait, paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, corruption of the UN Oil-For-Food campaign, harboring of Abu Nidal, shooting at our planes in the no-fly-zone, and stuff like that, right ? None of that stuff could ever be considered extremist, could it ? They were all flying kites in Iraq before we showed up.

Am I really going to have to listen to you call anyone who disagrees with Obama a racist from now until the election ? Oh, joy. Steve King was talking about Obama pulling out of Iraq and thus giving the extremists a victory over america in the heart of the Middle East in the war against terrorism, nothing else.

And when you call the war on terror 'fictitious', it pretty much puts an exclamation point on Steve King's argument about how liberals are not serious about fighting Islamic extremism. Thanks.