Why Did We Invade Iraq? — Look To 'The Godfather'

I see a noteworthy comment here, in connection with an Atrios post—which links to an entry from Digby. Among other significant issues, Digby again raises the overarching question that still remains:

“Why did we invade Iraq?”

Here’s the comment:

Fat Clemenza in The Godfather had another answer:

CLEMENZA: Probably all the other families will line up against us. But, it’s alright. These things have to happen once every ten years or so…gets rid of the bad blood.

I don’t remember that line. Did Clemenza actually say that? God, I hope so. It would certainly help to clarify the ultimate origins of the neoconservatives’ plans for worldwide “benevolent hegemony.” As I mentioned again only a few weeks ago:

AND: So that we never forget, the “low-lying fruit” theory which supposedly “justified” the invasion of Iraq was hardly the only example of the warmongers’ brilliant, incisive and stunningly original approach to foreign affairs. As the ever-clever Jonah Goldberg reminded us some time ago, the “Ledeen Doctrine” still undoubtedly holds the record in this regard:

“I’ve long been an admirer of, if not a full-fledged subscriber to, what I call the ‘Ledeen Doctrine.’ I’m not sure my friend Michael Ledeen will thank me for ascribing authorship to him and he may have only been semi-serious when he crafted it, but here is the bedrock tenet of the Ledeen Doctrine in more or less his own words: ‘Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.’”

We need to show them “we mean business.” The 98-pound weaklings who got pounded during recess at school now have the opportunity to get their revenge—and they want to show those guys who beat the crap out of them that THEY MEAN BUSINESS! As I have noted many, many times before, almost none of what is now occurring in our foreign policy ever had anything to do with national defense or with the actual requirements of national security.