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Slow Learners

At National Review's blog "The Corner," James Robbins writes, "I was interested in the number of times Presdent Obama invoked 9/11 in his Afghanistan speech. Wasn't that something President Bush took a lot of guff for from the left?"

No! The organization that attacked us on 9/11 was based in Afghanistan. Liberals didn't object to citing 9/11 as a reason to go into Afghanistan. They objected to citing 9/11 as a reason to go into Iraq, which didn't attack us. I favored the war in Iraq and I objected to using 9/11 as a reason to invade. It's a pretty clear distinction. Eight years later, why can't conservatives get this straight?

--Jonathan Chait