Jay Tea of Wizbang is playing “What If?“:

One of my favorite tactics when debating people is to, for a moment, presume that they are right, and then speculate on what would be the logical consequences of their position. In this case, I decided to play out the scenario that the US had not invaded Iraq after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan. I had to figure out a rationale for a different course of action, and what might evolve from there.

But then I realized this was too good an idea to keep to myself. I thought I’d share it with some other bloggers, people I’ve come to respect as thinkers and writers, and see if they wanted to play along. I even included a couple of anti-war writers, because I was curious what they’d do with the notion.

Jay Tea has two “What If” posts up: ( 1 2 )

Will Franklin at Willisms contributes Iraq: What Might Have Been.

Jeff Harrell at The Shape of Days contributes What might have been, part II.

Pierre Legrand at The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill writes A Spoonful of Courage.

I considered writing my own What If…? story along these same lines, centering around the reaction of President Al Gore to the attacks, but it came across a little too tongue-in-cheek, though I’ve little doubt that it wasn’t entirely unrealistic. (Initial response to the 9/11 attacks was to drop five bombs on a few Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Emboldened by our lack of response, the terrorist group detonated a nuclear bomb in Washington a few years later.)

I’ve spared you my story. Go read the others.