It is my understanding Buckley was against the war from the start, along with Buchanan. Both are rather isolationist conservatives by nature. Second, massive firebombing and the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians accounts for the relative safety in Tokyo at war's end. There weren't many Japanese still alive by the time Macarthur set up government in Tokyo. And more importantly, the US left the Japanese Emperor in place, providing the Japanese their object of worship. So long as the Japanese had their Emperor, they would not revolt.

Times are much different today, and Iraq is not Japan or Germany or Vietnam. So long as the Middle East is vital to US national interests, having Iraq run by Saddam is unacceptable. Too much of the US economy depends on the free flow of Middle East oil at market prices, and this, when combined with terrorist attacks against the US, makes the overthrow of Saddam imperative to the security of the US.

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill