We didn't invade Iraq because they had WMDs. We invaded because they had substantial links to terrorists, they had substantial knowledge about creating WMDs and we feared that they would share this with terrorists.

The anti-Bush crowd has been claiming that there were no links between Saddam and terrorists. In order to say this they have divided terrorists into "good" and "bad" terrorists. The bad terrorists are al Qaeda. The good terrorists are everyone else who kills indiscriminately but mainly kills non-Americans.

Bin Laden's most recent video is interesting in this regard since he talks about Lebanon 22 years ago. As I remember it, Israel invaded Lebanon because it was being used to shell Israel. The US went in as peacekeepers.

The terrorists in this case were "good" ones - they were not part of al Qaeda. They were, however, supported by Saddam.

The thinking had always been that al Qaeda could not co-exist with Baathists or other Islamic terrorist groups because of theological differences. Bin Laden's last message blurs this.

The lines were also blurred when al-Zarqawi professed his allegiance to al Qaeda. Experts were previously unsure if Zarqawi was an ally or a rival.

All of this shows that Islamic terrorism is linked in ways that John Kerry is not willing to acknowledge. Kerry seems to view the war on terror as a manhunt for bin Laden. Once Osama is dead, he will declare victory and end the war.

Of course it is not that simple. A lot of Moslems hate us. Bringing in the French and throwing Israel to the wolves will not satisfy them.

For a detailed list of Saddam's links to terrorists, look here.

Bush has made mistakes in the conduct of the war. It is impossible not to. That's how war works. That does not make him incompetent. Just read about the ghastly mistakes that happened during D-Day.

I see a great deal of arm-chair quarterbacking. "If only Bush hadn't dissolved the Iraqi army." for example. All of this makes for easy targets since there is no way to know how things would have gone otherwise. The first time US troops attacked Fallujah it was with newly-trained Iraqi troops. Some fled, some helped, but some turned on the US troops. That could have happened with the entire Iraqi army. Imagine the uproar if it got out that we had retained the army only for some of them to steal away with their equipment to attack us.

There is no perfect choice. No matter which decision Bush makes, some part of it will not go perfectly and the anti-Bushies will claim incompetence.