Charles Krauthammer

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer cheerleading about Bush's 2002 State of the Union speech, Washington Post, (February 1, 2002):

Bush is using his war popularity to seek support for more war -- far wider, larger and more risky. . . . what really moves him. . . .

Which is why this speech, unlike most State of the Union addresses, will be remembered. It was important. It redefined the war.

Until now the war had been about Sept. 11. The campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda is a campaign of revenge and justice. That campaign is not yet over, but the war, the real war, is not about last Sept. 11. It is about preventing the next Sept. 11. . . .

The joint resolution Congress passed on Sept. 14 simply authorized the use of force against those who perpetrated Sept. 11. This is seriously shortsighted. . . . .

We have serious enemies with bottomless hatred and, soon, the weapons to match. Whether they were involved in Sept. 11 is irrelevant. We are in a race against time. We have to get to them before they get to us.

. . . . Which brings us to Iraq. Iraq is what this speech was about. If there was a serious internal debate within the administration over what to do about Iraq, that debate is over. The speech was just short of a declaration of war.

It thus addressed the central war question today: After Afghanistan, where do we go from here?. . . . But this is all prologue. Stage Three is overthrowing Saddam Hussein. . . . between this year's State of the Union and next year's, the battle with Iraq will have been joined.

That was the unmistakable message of this astonishingly bold address. This is not a president husbanding political capital. This is a president on a mission. We have not seen that in a very long time.

In the middle of the invasion's offensive, (19 April 3003), Krauthammer wrote in Inside Washington, WUSA-TV:

The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington.

Fox News' Special Report With Brit Hume, (1 June 04):

It's the beginning of the end of the bad news. I mean, we're going to have lots of attacks, but the political process is under way.

Time (7-March-05):

Three Cheers for the Bush Doctrine: History has begun to speak, and it says that America made the right decision to invade Iraq:

. . . . The Administration went ahead with this great project knowing it would be hostage to history. History has begun to speak. Elections in Afghanistan, a historic first. Elections in Iraq, a historic first. Free Palestinian elections producing a moderate leadership, two historic firsts. Municipal elections in Saudi Arabia, men only, but still a first. In Egypt, demonstrations for democracy -- unheard of in decades -- prompting the dictator to announce free contested presidential elections, a historic first.

. . . . And now, of course, the most romantic flowering of the spirit America went into the region to foster: the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, in which unarmed civilians, Christian and Muslim alike, brought down the puppet government installed by Syria. There is even the beginning of a breeze in Damascus. More than 140 Syrian intellectuals have signed a public statement defying their government by opposing its occupation of Lebanon.