Bush speech yesterday: "We saw war and grief arrive on a quiet September morning. We pursued the terrorist enemy across the world. We have captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network. We will stay on the hunt until justice is done. (Applause.) We confronted the dangers of state-sponsored terror and the spread of weapons of mass destruction."
But the preoccupation of this Administration has NOT been terrorism. Rather it has been the removal of Saddam Hussein--who, it is increasingly clear, was not plotting terrorist acts. Hussein was an evil man, and I'm glad to see him gone, but that has not made the world safer from terrorism.
Instead of building our security, the War in Iraq diverted our attention from the real terrorists, and gave the terrorists a focal point on which to build their support. (From the U.K. Butler Report on British intelligence failures: "The JIC made clear that, although there were contacts between the Iraqi regime and Al Qaida, there was no evidence of co-operation.") And the failures of intelligence and leadership undermined our ability to draw together a coalition of the willing in the future.