prior to the election i ran across an article by russ baker in which he reported former bush ghostwriter mickey herskowitz describing one of the meetings he had with the president in 1999.   according to baker, herskowitz (who was the first writer hired to produce what later became 'a charge to keep'--a bush biography--in anticipation of his run for the whitehouse) told him the following:

“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999. It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.  My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”

immediately after 911, he had that chance when his popularity ratings hit 91%.

here's baker's description of why and how bush chose to deal with that political capital that was burning holes in his presidential pants pocket:

According to Herskowitz, George W. Bush’s beliefs on Iraq were based in part on a notion dating back to the Reagan White House – ascribed in part to now-vice president Dick Cheney, Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee under Reagan. “Start a small war. Pick a country where there is justification you can jump on, go ahead and invade.”

Bush’s circle of pre-election advisers had a fixation on the political capital that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher collected from the Falklands War. Said Herskowitz: “They were just absolutely blown away, just enthralled by the scenes of the troops coming back, of the boats, people throwing flowers at [Thatcher] and her getting these standing ovations in Parliament and making these magnificent speeches.”

i decided there wasnt anything there likely to open the eyes of anyone still unable to see--despite what i believe to be more than sufficient evidence already available--how unlikely it is that bush decided to invade iraq only after 9/11 and then only after what he believed in good faith to be accurate intelligence that iraq posed a clear and present danger to the us.

i'm not really sure why i kept a copy of that article. obviously i was struck by the phrase 'political capital' --perhaps because i couldnt recall having heard bush use it in the past.

thats all changed now. run a google search using 'bush' 'political capital' and youll get lots of hits...none of the first 100 of which date past last week.

while this is clearly no more than circumstantial evidence (at least the way im presenting it) since i cant vouch for the veracity of herskowitz' recollection, baker states herskowitz is a credible journalist.  he was taken off the gwb project due to creative differences raised by the campaign but was hired in 2002 by ghwb to produce a biography of prescott bush--the current president's grandfather. 

it does seem likely--now that bush is bandying the political capital thing around every chance he gets--he used that phrase when talking to herskowitz in 1999 about invading iraq should he be elected.