There you go again talking about the "war on terrorism." That phrase will become the most remembered sound bite of the Bush administration. I am not suggesting that we do not need to prevent terroristic attacks on the United States, but the battlefield of that war is Iraq. What Americans need to ask is:

- Was Iraq a hotbed of terrorism before the U.S. invasion?

- Are there other countries where the fight against terrorism would have a higher yield?

- Would the hundreds of billions we spent in Iraq have been better spent elsewhere?

- Are our borders, ports, chemical factories, etc., better protected now than before 9-11?

It is sad that, by our bumblings in Iraq, we have set up a school for terrorism. We have increased the number of fanatics willing to die to hurt us. It is even more sad that Gen. David Petraeus, when asked whether our battle in Iraq has made us safer, honestly answered that he did not know.

It is sad that we abandoned Afghanistan and our hunt for Osama bin Laden to invade Iraq. It is sad that we have not accomplished all that the 9-11 commission said we needed to do to prevent an attack in this country.

But the saddest of all is that the Bush administration has not fully taken responsibility for the mess they are going to leave for the poor Democrat who gets elected president. History will hopefully remember.

Harold M. Szerlip, Martinez