One thing that accompanies this “mindset that led us to war” is the absolute incomprehension that our “liberation” could be seen as anything but magnanimous. There’s Kennan’s willful ignorance/self-adulation again, but it’s more than that. I mean, people really seemed to think that invading Iraq would be akin go “liberating” Des Moines; Iraqis would react in the exact same fashion that an American might if liberated from sinister forces.

Inside each Iraqi was an American just itching to get out.

And too many still don’t undererstand the fatal flaw in this “thinking” – which leads your occasional National Review columnist to write about how the Iraqis are simply a bunch of ingrates.

So it’s not only that we broadly accept that we have the “right” to invade and shape other societies. We simply don’t see how anyone could possibly think otherwise.