Dennis,
That was a great post! Very compelling.
PRobb,
Iraq may not have been a direct blow to terror organizations, but it did give the United States the balls it needs to make strong decisions in forgien affairs. We have to have that kind of power if we are going to lead the rest of the world in a war against terror. United, the free nations of the world can overpower those who would enslave the will of mankind and a team needs a leader. We are that leader and thereby must act like leaders, pushing on when others are to afraid.
Since 9/11 we have set an example worldwide that we will stand united against the threat of terror and that those who threaten peace will not be tolerated. We are empowering other nations to take the same stance and setting the example for the rest of the free world to follow. Today, terrorists are not going to be organized enough to pull off another 9/11 thanks to nations over the world uniting in a common goal - Stamp out terror wherever it is. Who was the first to call all nations to arms? George W. Bush. He's not lying when he says the world is now safer.
As far as Afghanistan goes, we accomplished our mission. The Taliban had to be overthrown for us to accomplish a very important project for the future or our economy, so 9/11 was sort of a "free shot" at it. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden would have been too vast, expensive, long and de-moralizing of a campaign to fight by ourselves and the Bush administration knew that. 9/11 had thrown everyone for a loop and Bush reacted the only way he could. Sure, maybe Iraq was a way for Bush to close the book on our involvement in Afghanistan and the fact that Bush wasn't going to carry on a lone wolf international man hunt. If you were president at the time and knew that you could spend the rest of your time in office chasing one man or make changes worldwide that would impact every terrorist organization, what would you do?