Traditionalists believe wars must only be fought as a last resort to defend the nation against grave security threats. Ideologues believe wars ought to be fought to advance some ideal they enshrine as an international agenda. George Washington was the prototype American traditionalist. He steered America clear of aligning itself with Revolutionary France in France's ideological conflict with the constitutional monarchy in England. Woodrow Wilson was the prototype ideologue. He insisted on recasting World War I as a war to make the world safe for democracy, and as an ironic result ended up making the world more dangerous for everyone.
A traditionalist view of the war in Iraq is that it was to eliminate the threat Saddam's regime posed to the U.S. and our allies. An ideological view is that it was to make first Iraq, then the broader Middle East, safe for democracy.
The ideological war is clearly a long way from the stopping point. As long as there are factions in Iraq willing to obstruct the march toward Madisonian principles in Mesopotamia, U.S. forces would have an enemy there. The ironic logic of the ideological war says we will give Iraqis democracy whether Iraqis want it or not.
The ideologues cannot accept Powell's declaration that we will leave as soon as an Iraqi government asks us to leave because the Iraqi government that asks us to leave may not be the democracy that is the ideologues' war aim.
Traditionalists have a different reason to be wary of Powell's declaration: It could cause us to leave behind an Iraq that is an equal or greater threat than the one we invaded. Victory means removing the threat, not giving it a makeover.
But victory can be achieved by insisting to the Iraqis as they move forward in determining their own political destiny that there are just three commandments they must obey: 1) Thou shalt not invade thy neighbor, 2) Thou shalt not make weapons of mass destruction, and 3) Thou shalt not consort with terrorists.
When it is reasonable to assume we can make Iraq keep these commandments without keeping troops in Iraq, our troops can come home. Al hamdulillah. Will democracy dawn over Baghdad before that day? Insha'allah.