Even if bin Laden is caught and put on display (with or without Hussein), he will likely appear as a grand martyr against the U.S. tyranny, enticing even more volunteers for al Qaeda. The display will come off as nothing more than a pre-election ploy, more macho preening by a power-mad "President". Bush was warned early on that invading Iraq was a bad idea, that likely it would increase terrorism and bring more followers to terrorist groups and that's what's happened. Only recently has the military sought to close the Iraq borders to keep more anti-U.S. fighters from entering. Why wasn't that done immediately after victory?

What Bush should've done is not be so impatient with his private agenda. After the fall of Afghanistan he should have continued the pursuit of bin Laden, even into Pakistan if need be. The U.S. should have then said "Afghanistan harbored terrorists and is no longer. Pakistan is harboring terrorists. We're going after the fugitives. Pakistan has the option of helping us or facing the same fate as Afghanistan." What would Pakistan do? They'd have a cheesed off U.S. on one flank and India on another. Pakistan would have weighed harboring bin Laden versus a complete overthrow and given in. That's a message! The U.S. will track down known terrorists immediately and exhaustively, and you can join us or get the hell out of the way. That's a message! Using the soldiers currently in Iraq, with the budget now wasted in Iraq, with all alies firmly in tow, bin Laden likely would have been caught by now. That's a message!

Once bin Laden was brought to Justice one way or another, Bush could have ridden that wave into Iraq, assuming that the weapons inspectors found any thing.

But Bush had his agenda and a deadline. He couldn't chance the weapons inspectors reporting that Hussein was clean and clear. He had to get Iraq early on for whatever his own reasons were - oil, revenge, control...

And now America is hated, Europe is coallescing into an independent world power, terrorism is on the rise as is the U.S. body count in Iraq. We live in fear not just from terrorists but from our own Government. Is this the New World Order?