ROBERT: "Are we safer because we conquered Iraq, or less safe? Was the war on terror advanced, or retarded?"

MY REPLY: Americans are less safe today than they were six months ago. We've lost ground in the war against terror. Osama bin Ladin is still on the loose. Iran and North Korea are actually developing nuclear weapons with impunity - god knows what else they are working on. Our international credibility is in shambles - virtually no one believes us anymore. Our military is tapped to its practical limits. We can't count on international participation in any peace-keeping or military endeavor that may be essential to American interests. We are saddled with a federal budget deficits. The Bush administration is cutting air marshals. Al Qaeda is regrouping in Afghanistan. And we now have millions more Islamic fundamentalists whipped into a jihadic frenzy about an American military presence in the Middle-East.

Do I feel safer? ABsolutely not.