Derb, I’m puzzled by the notion asserted by you and others that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the so-called War on Terror. We just eliminated Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was the commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Surely, al-Qaeda is an important enemy in the War on Terror.

If we’re serious about the War on Terror we will fight al-Qaeda wherever we find it. We find it in Iraq. By the same logic, if we retreat from the Iraqi battlefield, we’re retreating from the fight against al-Qaeda, that is from the War on Terror.

If you want to argue that we had no business screwing around with those Baathists in 2003 and that we should leave them alone now – well, I’d probably disagree with you on that, too, but you’d be standing on firmer ground.