Bush's great success in the war on terror

Ellen Goodman repeats the same tired old saw that "Bush Lied, Thousands Died" to deny the stunning successes achieved in Iraq. Our country has been engaged in a worldwide war on terror, not just a search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or a hunt for Osama bin Laden. There are numerous terrorist groups around the globe that have been wreaking havoc on the civilized world since the attack on the Jewish athletes at the 1970 Olympics. Among them are Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaida, Libya and the PLO. They coordinate with each other. Some are state -sponsored. One of those states was Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Others are Iran, North Korea and Libya.

These groups attacked with abandon because they thought we did not have the will to fight back. Their attacks became ever bolder, striking one of our ships and finally even taking out the World Trade Center. Bush was the first president in a generation to stand up and say "Enough!" He obtained congressional and United Nations support for going to war against Iraq on the basis that it had defied 17 U.N. resolutions. The result has been the near annihilation of al-Qaida, deposing of a dictator who had killed hundreds of thousands of his own people and harbored terrorists, establishment of the only non-Jewish democratic state in the Middle East and creation of a key ally in the war on terrorism smack dab in the middle of terrorist country. Terrorist actions against the U.S. have virtually disappeared and even Muammar Kaddafi has relinquished his nuclear arsenal out of a newfound respect for American resolve.

You have to look at the whole picture to understand the dramatic success of Mr. Bush's decision to flex American muscle and strike terror into the enemies of freedom.

Craig Olson

Wheaton