Why are we waging war in Iraq?

1) Because Saddam was the mastermind behind 9/11 - No, that's not right.
2) Because Saddam had links to Al Qaeda - No wait, he had nothing to do with them.
3) Because Saddam was an evil dictator in possession of weapons of mass destruction that would eventually be unleashed on America, or at least Israel - No, actually Saddam's arsenal of chemical & biological (he never had nuclear) weapons was effectively depleted by sanctions and political efforts.
4) Because the people of Iraq long to be free, and a free and democratic Iraq (and, eventually, Middle East) is Pres. Bush's top priority - No, no, no - once again, it appears, we need more false pretenses to continue the occupation; the President just couldn't stick to the latest and greatest excuse.

from the Washington Post:

"The commitment to what the president of the United States will say every single day of the week is his number one priority in Iraq, when it's translated into action, looks very tiny," said Les Campbell, who runs programs in the Middle East for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, known as NDI.

NDI and its sister, the International Republican Institute (IRI), will see their grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development dry up at the end of this month, according to a government document, leaving them only special funds earmarked by Congress last year. Similarly, the U.S. Institute of Peace has had its funding for Iraq democracy promotion cut by 60 percent. And the National Endowment for Democracy expects to run out of money for Iraqi programs by September.

"Money keeps getting transferred away to security training. Democracy's one of the things that's been transferred," said Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's project on democracy and the rule of law.
...
For Bush, developing democracy in Iraq has become perhaps the signature of his presidency, and he takes special pride in the three elections held since sovereignty was transferred by U.S. authorities. Veterans of past democracy-building efforts, however, have complained that having elections is not enough -- an argument the president has embraced lately, both in his speeches and in his newly released National Security Strategy.

Unfortunately, Bush is talking the talk but not walking the walk.

At current spending rates, the earmark [for funding pro-democracy initiatives] will run out this year. After that, the Bush administration has included just $15 million for the two party institutes as part of the $63 million for Iraqi democracy in next year's budget, which would require most programs to be cut.

The U.S. Institute of Peace faces similar cutbacks to its program. "It's just vital," said Daniel P. Serwer, an institute vice president. All the democracy programs in Iraq combined, he noted, cost less than one day of the U.S. military mission. "Am I absolutely sure that we will shorten the deployment time of American troops enough to justify the cost of the program? Yes," he said.