Iraq "War" equivalent to WWII?

Like most of you, I am all consumed by the news coverage on hurricane Katrina. I was in New Orleans just a few months ago and I'm shocked by the flood photos. But I trust that you can find complete coverage at other outlets like CNN. In the meantime Bush is talkin' crazy again.

Invoking the spirit of Franklin D. Roosevelt on Tuesday, President Bush described the war in Iraq as the modern-day moral equivalent of the struggle against Nazi fascism and Japanese imperialism in World War II.

Let me start by saying Bush is no Roosevelt. HE was a great American, thinking outside the confines of a capitalist mentality to create social programs unparalleled in modern American history. Roosevelt took this country out of the Depression, party through WWII and party through his New Deal by creating social programs like Public Works, Social Security, the FDIC, mandatory availability of meals for children in school, on and on. If it did not suit his particular agenda, ideologically Bush would have nothing to do with Roosevelt and would probably consider him a leftwing Socialist, but that's besides the point I guess.

Bush used a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the victory over Japan to try to fortify public will at a time of unremitting violence in Iraq. It was third time in the last week that he has delivered a stay-the-course speech to counter an energized antiwar sentiment. Speaking at a naval base near the docked USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, Bush characterized Iraqi insurgents as every bit a "ruthless" enemy as the Germans and the Japanese.

"He knew that it was the lack of democracy in Japan that allowed an un-elected group of militarists to take control of the state, threaten our neighbors, attack America and plunge an entire region into war," Bush said of Roosevelt. "And he knew that the best way to bring peace and stability to the region was by bringing freedom to Japan."

I guess Truman decided the best way to give Japan freedom was to drop two atomic bombs on its civilians. Enjoy the freedom!

Let's back track, how can you equate the necessity of World War II with this pseudo-war? Has Bush ever formally declared war? To which leader? Remember we are fighting "insurgence" not warring against a military, right? If I remember my H.S. American history correctly, it took Roosevelt a hell of allot of convincing in order to get involved in the war, whereas Bush pre-emptively attacked a sovereign country without just provocation (proven that we went to war under false pretences). World War II is probably the last legitimate war this country has been involved in. Let's not compare it to this bloody fiasco. Then we were heroes, now we are thugs.