The single most important fact under this heading is this: al Qaeda has not succeeded in launching a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001. We cannot doubt that they would have done so, if they had been able to do so.

Some have denied that there was any connection between Iraq under Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. That is a falsehood. No matter how many times it is repeated, it will remain a falsehood. Evidence of the ties between the Saddam Hussein regime and terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, is extensive, conclusive and irrefutable.   After the first bombing of the world trade center by al Qaeda in 1993, an Iraqi participant escaped to Iraq with the assistance of the Iraqi government. They harbored other terrorists. They gave money to support an al Qaeda affiliate in the Phillipines. That al Qaeda affiliate had frequent contact with the Iraqi embassy there, including in the time just before an attempted bombing. When Federal Judge Gilbert S. Merritt was in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, he was shown an important document. It identified an Iraqi government agent in Pakistan responsible for coordination with al Qaeda. The document was signed by Saddam's son Uday.

In the first Gulf War, the U.S. and Britain drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait. To end the war, the Iraqi regime made an agreement with us. They did not keep it. In violation of that agreement, they fired on U.S. and British planes more than 750 times.

Saddam Hussein's Baath Party traces its origin back to Nazi Germany, with some tweaks along the way from the influence of Russian Communism. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, whose government committed mass murders. We do not know the number of deaths, but we have found the remains of more than 400,000 people in mass graves. We do not owe anyone an apology for removing such a man, and such a regime, from power.

Oh yes. And in spite of people like Harry Reid who said the war was lost, the surge is working.