Don't take this as an attack on you Idle, it's more of one against your information. But you are mistaken here when you said: "I think the Senator said that if we continue on our current course in Iraq, the war is lost." Here is the full quote from Harry Reid: "Now I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week." He did not qualify his statement by saying that it will be lost if such strategies continue. Reid said it is lost. General Patraeus, who is now in charge of the Iraqi Forces, just told Congress to wait until all of the troops for the surge are in Iraq and conducting their mission before making any determinations. So far, the surge is accomplishing its goal...to secure Baghdad. The terrorists know this. They are fighting to the death and they are losing big time. Reid, who is a member of the Democrat-led Congress that voted for the new strategy, should at least let the entire surge force get to Iraq before making such claims as to whether or not the war is lost. I also take issue with this statement of yours: "Considering that Iraq has become Jihad Training Ground Central and rallying point for fanatics from all over the world to congregate, it certainly raises the question of whether the invasion of Iraq has made the U.S. safer, or is doing just the opposite." First of all, many people still believe that there was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before we invaded. These people believe they were everywhere else in the world, including everywhere in the Middle East, except in Iraq, despite the fact that Zarqawi fled Afghanistan and set up in Iraq and that the 9-11 Commission outlined a connection between Saddam and Al-Qaeda which has been confirmed by many past and current ministers of Iraq's government and plenty of government documents. To believe that Al-Qaeda was spread around the world, including the United States, but nowhere to be found in the heart of the Middle East is not only utterly absurd, but factually incorrect. Secondly, if the Islamic terrorists are concentrating their resources to fight a battle in Iraq, which they do not want to lose, then this will limit their capacity to strike somewhere outside of this battleground. We have taken the fight to them and put them on the defensive. The very nature of being on the defensive means that you are severely limited in your ability to execute offensive strategies. After 9-11, most people thought we would not be able to go almost six years without being hit again. Europe has been attacked repeatedly and we know terrorists would love nothing more than to hit the United States. So, it can be argued that the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq have made us safer. Arguing for the opposing position would mean denying all of the observed facts over the last several years.