Well, what a day yesterday, still today for me mentally, was.

Safire wrote an excellent op-ed piece.

Here's an excerpt:

WASHINGTON — Like newly freed Parisians tossing flowers at allied tanks; like newly freed Germans tearing down the Berlin wall; like newly freed Russians pulling down the statue of the hated secret police chief in Dzerzinsky Square, the newly freed Iraqis toppled the figure of their tyrant and ground their shoes into the face of Saddam Hussein.

All these pictures flow together in the farrago of freedom's victories over despotism in the past two generations. Just as video of human suffering understandably triggers demonstrations against any war, unforgettable images of the jubilation of enslaved people tasting liberty drives home the wisdom of just wars.

Even in the flush of triumph, doubts will be raised. Where are the supplies of germs and poison gas and plans for nukes to justify pre-emption? (Freed scientists will lead us to caches no inspectors could find.) What about remaining danger from Baathist torturers and war criminals' forming pockets of resistance and plotting vengeance? (Their death wish is our command.)

Man, it's ironic that all of those countries mentioned at the beginning, with explicit ties to such relatively recent memories of regained freedom are the countries who have not supported us all along. Of course, Safire most likely did this intentionally, after all...he is brilliant!