Bush circumvented the war in Afghanistan and the "war on terror" to strike Iraq

I, pundits, and people that have a brain everywhere have been saying this for a while....but when the Washington Post comes out with a blockbuster article that clearly shows that Bush sacrificed destroying Al Qaeda in Afghanistan (you know that country that harbored training camps where Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network grew more and more powerful) to fight a meaningless war against Iraq...why did he choose Iraq? was it because Saddam tried to kill his daddy? was it because he felt that the Bush family name was scorned by neo-conservatives who were so bloodthirsty that they wanted to defeat Saddam's Iraq by marching all the way into Baghdad during the first Gulf War? was it because of their oil--oil that could enable the United States to fend off efforts by OPEC to control prices and supplies?

Big quotes:

"That announcement marked a year-long drawdown of specialized military and intelligence resources from the geographic center of combat with Osama bin Laden. As jihadist enemies reorganized, slipping back and forth from Pakistan and Iran, the CIA closed forward bases in the cities of Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar. The agency put off an $80 million plan to train and equip a friendly intelligence service for the new U.S.-installed Afghan government. Replacements did not keep pace with departures as case officers finished six-week tours. And Task Force 5 -- a covert commando team that led the hunt for bin Laden and his lieutenants in the border region -- lost more than two-thirds of its fighting strength."

To show that Richard Clarke wasn't alone:

"The contention that the Iraq invasion was an unwise diversion in confronting terrorism has been central to Kerry's critique of Bush's performance. But this account -- drawn largely from interviews with those who have helped manage Bush's offensive -- shows how the debate over that question has echoed within the ranks of the administration as well, even among those who support much of the president's agenda."

And the lies the administration vaporizes throughout their re-election campaign:

"But at least a dozen current and former officials who have held key positions in conducting the war now say they see diminishing returns in Bush's decapitation strategy. Current and former leaders of that effort, three of whom departed in frustration from the top White House terrorism post, said the manhunt is important but cannot defeat the threat of jihadist terrorism. Classified government tallies, moreover, suggest that Bush and Vice President Cheney have inflated the manhunt's success in their reelection bid. "

And how the world's opinion doesn't matter to the reverse jihadists in the White House:

"Bush and his aides most often deflect questions about recent global polls that have found sharply rising anti-U.S. sentiment in Arab and Muslim countries and in Europe, but one of them addressed it in a recent interview. Speaking for the president by White House arrangement, but declining to be identified, a high-ranking national security official said of the hostility detected in surveys: "I don't think it matters. It's about keeping the country safe, and I don't think that matters."

That view is at odds with the view of many career military and intelligence officials, who spoke with increasing alarm about al Qaeda's success in winning recruits to its cause and defining its struggle with the United States."