Looks as if our esteemed press neglected to do their (any) homework when Bush/Cheney began beating the war drums.
2000 GOP Platform:
"We support the full implementation of the Iraq Liberation Act, which should be regarded as a starting point in a comprehensive plan for the removal of Saddam Hussein. . . Republicans recognize that peace and stability in the Persian Gulf is impossible as long as Saddam Hussein rules Iraq." ...
"A new Republican administration will patiently rebuild an international coalition opposed to Saddam Hussein and committed to joint action."...
"A humanitarian intervention in Somalia was escalated thoughtlessly into nation-building at the cost of the lives of courageous Americans." (In the 2000 presidential debates, Bush said he would stop 'extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions). (From Buzzflash, Maureen Farrell)
No wonder other journalists are trashing Judy Miller for being a bitch and sleeping around; calling attention to her pathetic and biased work product would call attention to the fact that most of them are hacks like Judy but without the high profile sources.
There we have it -- the DEM Platform called for taking efforts against terrorism and specifically OBL and the GOP was gonna get Saddam. This is not anything anybody needed to intuit or devine --it's what they (bleep) told us they would do.