Much has been written about Bush’s Bring them on comment. The response has ranged from anger that the President would taunt would-be attackers so to Andrew Sullivan’s it’s all part of an extremely well thought out and devious plan.

The news this morning is that three more soldiers were killed in two separate attacks. It’s clearly unfair to blame further attacks on Bush’s comments. They had been taking place before, and will continue to do so for some time. What is entirely ludicrous in my view is to suggest that “we’ve got them (terrorists) exactly where we want them.” So far, those who have endorsed Bush’s taunt have equated Iraqi insurgents with terrorists, allowing them to suggest this is all part of the war on terrorism. Just like going to Iraq in order to destroy its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

Whatever weapons are eventually found in Iraq, it seems unlikely at this point that they posed any kind of imminent threat. Iraq’s ties to bin Laden remain extremely speculative (to put it kindly.) Hussein, a murderous tyrant to his people, had shown little proclivity to targeting Americans. Until (and unless) we can find clear evidence that would be terrorists who would otherwise not be in Iraq now are and that they are being apprehended by US forces, there is no basis for concluding that the war on terror is “helped” by having soldiers shot in the back of the head at close range.

Otherwise, US forces are now battling an enemy that was otherwise occupied before the war. We are not fighting those terrorists that had the means and the ability to attack us. If that’s what we want, shouldn’t we be sending more troops back to Afghanistan? The place is a mess and bin Laden is alive. “Mission accomplished?” We fear not.