My hometown paper The Indianapolis Star ran an editorial from Lee Hamilton on February 23, 2009. He commented on the war on terror in this way:

 "We know that al-Qaida still seeks to harm the United States. The statements of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri make this clear. And foreign-policy missteps, especially in Iraq, have amplified the threat. It is possible that al-Qaida believes that attacks on U.S. interests in Afghanistan and Iraq are more effective, less expensive and less risky."

Now I respect other people's opinions but I have a problem when they refuse to connect the dots in the most obvious ways. This statement conveys the frustration the liberals have with the war in Iraq, pointing out that they think we are less safe because we invaded.  However in the next sentence he admits that "it is possible" al-Qaida finds it preferable to attack in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of on our homeland. The political translation is that we are safer at home because we invaded Iraq. Anyone that believes al-Qadia was going to hang around and fight us in Afghanistan is simply seeing the situation through rose colored glasses. Terrorists do not hold territory they simply murder people for the shock value of it. When we invaded Afghanistan al-Qaida left a few lackies behind to hold us off while the leadership made its escape. Invading Iraq was a thumb in thier eye. They stated that we were to leave the Mid East or suffer more terrorist attacks at home. When Bush invaded Iraq he messed up their game plan. We did not start this war on terror we were forced into it so we had no control. But we had a moment where the ball was in our court to respond and Bush took that opportunity to focus al-Qaida's attacks in the Mid East away from our soil. Al-Qaida had to respond to 140,000 troops on Iraqi land or lose face with their supporters. Guess what...it worked. Attacks have been concentrated in Iraq by al-Qaida. The Taliban has focused on attacks in Afghanistan, which they were always going to do. The only saving grace is that we have managed to keep them from attacking the U.S. again by focusing attention in Iraq. So the question: Is Mr. Hamilton being intellectually dishonest, or does he simply not understand the war we are fighting?