This is a war nobody believes in any more.


This war is universally supported by informed, intelligent people.



Consider this -- Anthony Cordesman writing in today's NY Times::

"It is all very well to talk about a global war on terrorism. To win it,
however, you have to fight it — on every front. We know that by the time of
the 9/11 attacks, some 70,000 to 100,000 young men had been through some form
of Islamist training camp, and that Al Qaeda had affiliates or some kind of tie
to movements in more than 60 countries. In the years that have followed, the
United States defeated the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but failed to
capture many of the leaders or secure the country, and has not completed the
nation-building that could bring true victory. The dispersal of terrorists has
destabilized western Pakistan, and the resulting political struggle has
strengthened Islamists in the rest of the country and created a new regional
threat.

Yet instead of wrapping up that fight, Washington invaded Iraq. While getting
rid of Saddam Hussein was wonderful for the Iraqi people, there is still no
evidence that Iraq was ever a center of terrorism or had strong ties to
Islamist extremists. As in Afghanistan, we failed to secure the country after
our military success and have been far to slow to create a meaningful plan for
nation-building. There is daily, violent evidence that the American invasion
has bred a mix of Iraqi Islamists and foreign volunteers that is a growing
threat.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies in London has estimates that
Al Qaeda and its affiliates now have a strength of 18,000 men, many joining the
movement as a result of the Afghan and Iraq conflicts. Some American
intelligence experts on Iraq feel that the number of insurgents may still be
growing faster than Coalition Provision Authority's military operations can
reduce them."

We are -less- safe now, because of Bush.

Walt