"The George W. Bush administration had a term for its rationalization of its invasion of Iraq, but I forget what the term was. They claimed that since Iraq had amassed "weapons of mass destruction," the U.S. invasion was justified. Iraq hadn't done anything wrong yet, but the Bushies figured they were a credible threat, and thus must be eliminated."

Joe on another thread you take Donuel to task for posting and presenting information as fact that is incorrect.

Initial identification that Saddam Hussein and the Ba'athist Regime in Iraq was a thread to the stability and peace of the region predates the administration of George W Bush by almost two decades.

UNSCOM and later UNMOVIC Inspections and reports indicated what WMD Iraq MAY BE HOLDING There were no statements of fact made about possession of WMD by Iraq, there were statements related to what the leaders of numerous countries believed Iraq might be holding and producing.

President Bill Clinton pushed through the Iraq Bill in the summer of 1998 that made "Regime Change in Iraq" official US Foreign Policy.

The attacks of the 11th September 2001 showed the world how vulnerable states are to asymmetric attack by anonymous terrorists. The US Security Agencies joined up the dots to assess that any such future attack supported behind the scenes by a hostile regime that possessed WMD or WMD material and knowledge could be catastrophic on a much larger scale.

As for "Iraq hadn't done anything wrong yet" - Incorrect - The primary reason for the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the undeniable fact that under Saddam Hussein Iraq had failed to meet the terms and conditions of the ceasefire Iraq had signed up to in March 1991 at Safwan. In 1945 had either the Germans or the Japanese failed to meet the ceasefire terms agreed with the Allied powers then the fighting would have resumed.

In March 2003 Iraq was invaded in order to establish and put beyond doubt once and for all in a verifiable manner that Iraq possessed NO WMD, NO WMD capability and had NO means of delivering WMD.

"the Bushies figured they were a credible threat, and thus must be eliminated."

No they didn't, the previous Clinton Administration did, all 19 of the USA's Intelligence and Security Agencies did, the Joint House Security Committee of the US Congress did and, whether you wish to accept the fact or not, the truth remains that the findings and recommendations of the latter two would have remained exactly the same irrespective of who had won the 2000 Presidential Election.