I don't disagree with you that the "scheme of things" is bigger as actually published in a letter signed by neo conservatives to Clinton during his administration. Those are the guys that are running the show now, except Powel which finally gave up the fight, he should have resigned, IMHO instead of switching, unless of course, he "saw the light". But assume that indeed that grand scheme is a "valid long term strategy", and also assume for the sake of the argument that the risks to us from the failure to achieve the "grand objective" of "Mid east democratization" are infinitesimals (and I don't think those risks are that small). Would we not have been better to at least "engineer" a "Gulf of Tonkin" kind of "Kimono" to cover up the "Grandiose strategy"? The WMD excuse is simply not bought.... Going around and changing internal regimes of countries around the world, at will, will bring total chaos to the international fragile order, IMHO. I thin it is a mistake that will drag us down for quite some time.
Zeev