President Bush got one thing right on Wednesday.

In his speech in Colorado Springs to Air Force Academy graduates, Bush acknowledged the commitment made by the 2008 cadets who enrolled at the academy and chose military life after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and after war in Iraq had begun.

They are brave young men and women indeed, and we commend them for their service.

But after that, his commencement speech left us scratching our heads.

Again.

The president continues to link World War II and the war in Iraq. Try as he might, there is still no comparison.

"After World War II we helped Germany and Japan build free societies and strong economies," Bush told the academy crowd. "These efforts took time and patience, and as a result Germany and Japan grew in freedom and prosperity and are now allies of the United States. . . . Today we must do the same in Afghanistan and Iraq."

World War II was a necessary war, for America, England, France and the rest of the free world. With Hitler's dictatorship and accompanying inhumanities, the U.S. had no choice but to join forces with its allies. The freedom of the world was at stake.

But Iraq, as we now know, was an optional war. We had a choice.

The president's rallying cry for nation building, something he opposed as a candidate in 2000, came on the same day political circles were buzzing about the new book from his former White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

Bush misled the media and the country in his justifications for going to war in Iraq, his former spokesman wrote in his memoir, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," which comes out next week.

McClellan purports that the president made "a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were needed most."

Given Bush's speech Wednesday, he still is misguided and continues to plead with the American people that this war was the right war.

Yes, Japan and Germany were successfully rebuilt over decades of reconstruction, but the situation was completely different. After five years in Iraq, there still is no workable exit plan and false comparisons will not change those facts.

Bush, acknowledging that building a democracy in Iraq "is a difficult and unprecedented task," continues to plead for patience.

It would be much easier for Americans to have patience if his administration had an actual plan for Iraq, rather than just constant political spin.