From the Southern Avenger

'This weekend marked the third anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in NYC and with the horror still fresh in many minds, President Bush and his advisors have restated their claim that America is safer than ever because of the administration's policies. The fact that we haven't had a terrorist attack on American soil since then proves it, they claim. I say we've just been very lucky, because there's no way in hell America is safer today after what we've done in Iraq.

After 9/11, everyone agreed that we needed to hunt down these terrorists and cut their balls off. Destroying any regime that protected or supported these terrorists was agreed upon as well. We had plenty of support then because everyone knew these terrorists had it coming.

But invading a country that had not threatened us as a matter of pre-emptive policy, Ousting dictators in the name of democracy and human rights, and establishing a permanent American presence in the Middle East for no good reason? No sir.

The United States has had relations with all sorts of horrible governments forever. Saudi Arabia and China immediately come to mind. So do Afghanistan and Iraq. Wiser administrations were always content to tolerate all sorts of brutal dictators so long as they cooperated with the U.S. when we needed it.

A lot of people probably think this is horrible, but it's actually very sensible. Think about it this way. If a man lived in a bad neighborhood, his best option, other than moving, would be to keep an eye out for threats to himself and his family. It is only common sense that protecting his own people should be his top priority. If some thug started "