Explaining the war to my son...

My son asked me about the 'war' in Iraq. Ever since he was small and could understand stories he defined the world as right or wrong. There is a good guy and a bad guy in every story. Certainly, there are stories where good guys make mistakes, but they correct these mistakes and make amends. It's generally the point of the story. The lesson. The theme or moral.

"Lots of people have died in the war, haven't they?"

"Yes, a whole lot."

"Iraqi people?"

"Well, yes, mostly Iraqi's, but a lot of American soldiers too."

"Why did they start the war with us?"

"Well, they didn't. We did."

"Why did we start the war?"

"Because we were told that they had a weapon that could hurt us."

"We started the war because they had a weapon to hurt us?"

"They didn't actually have a weapon to hurt us."

"Then why did we start the war?"

"Because our president lied to us."

"But they were bad people."

"No, they were mostly people just like us. Their leader was a bad man."

"We started the war to stop him."

"No, but that would be a possible reason for starting a war. We started the war because of the weapons."

"But you said there weren't weapons."

"That's right, there were no weapons."

"But President Bush said there were."

"Yes, he did."

"Lying is bad."

"Yes it is."

"Will someone attack us because our President is a bad man?"

So, you tell me. What do you suppose might be the general point of this story? The lesson? The theme or moral?