Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quagmire by GILBERT ACHCAR

In other words, its main concern was to establish in that area a long-term presence of troops, far beyond whatever time was needed to get rid of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. For that, a convenient pretext had to be given. The "neoconservative" discourse on democracy provided it, or at least it was deemed most appropriate for the purpose.