REFERENCE: ìAs Terrorists Strike Arab Targets, Escalation Fears Arise,î by Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 30 April, p. A13.

Can you imagine it? We take down Saddam and try to make Iraq a model of something other than itís been for the past three decades (a complete failure for its people and a never ending source of mass violence and threat in the region) and terrorists actually show up to stop us! More than that, our attempted rehab of Iraq seems to excite terrorists across the region, so Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria all suffer strikes recently.

The charge is, America is actually destabilizing the Middle East.

Ah yes, the good old days where authoritarian Arab regimes kept a lid on thing and exported the terrorists elsewhereólike New York and Washington DC on 11 September 2001. Unwilling to suffer that sort of attack in our neck of the woods, we take the fight to terrorists over there, and now itís the Arab regimes suffering terrorism.

Tell me exactly how this is worse for Americaís homeland defense?

Yes, US troops are being put at real risk, in their desperate effort to connect Iraq to a more stable future and to a world outside as terrorists and insurgents do their best to disconnect Iraqi society from both such outcomes. But at least this way, the professionals are waging this war, and as someone in this business, I prefer to see the professionals involved, not American citizens running through the streets of Manhattan dodging the debris from falling buildings.

If anyone thought bringing down Saddam Huessein would have a calming effect on the region, they didnít understand what the Bush Administration was selling them in terms of a ìbig bang.î Taking down Saddam was all about shaking up the security rule sets, political rule sets, economic rule sets, and even social rule sets in the region. There is no surprise to be found in the escalation of terror across the region as a result.

Just ask yourself if you want to fight this global war on terrorism in Baghdad or Boston, putting our soldiers on the front line or average citizens.

Frankly, this is what George Bush meant when he put it so crudely, ìBring it on.î