WANT TO GO OVER THE REASONS for invading Iraq again, according to the Bush administration?

• Iraq was a direct threat to U.S. national security. It had dangerous weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, which it could use within 45 minutes of an order to do so.
• We invaded Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein; he was a brutal dictator who murdered and tortured his own people.
• Iraq had well-known ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and we're not saying they planned 9/11, but they definitely helped the people who did.

If you nodded your head at any of the above reasons, you were wrong. But here's one major advantage the United States gained from invading Iraq that you will never hear Pres. Bush mention: the United States can now launch a ground invasion of Iran by land -- through Iraq and Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq, a ground assault against Iran could only have been accomplished by sea. This, from the Sy Hersh article discussed in my previous post. Here is the relevant passage:

The Pentagon’s contingency plans for a broader invasion of Iran are also being updated. Strategists at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, in Tampa, Florida, have been asked to revise the military’s war plan, providing for a maximum ground and air invasion of Iran. Updating the plan makes sense, whether or not the Administration intends to act, because the geopolitics of the region have changed dramatically in the last three years. Previously, an American invasion force would have had to enter Iran by sea, by way of the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman; now troops could move in on the ground, from Afghanistan or Iraq. Commando units and other assets could be introduced through new bases in the Central Asian republics.