MIRANDA DEVINE WRITES:

The facts of the war emerging from the front-line cacophony demonstrate why war was necessary in the first place. When the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told the United Nations that Iraq posed a threat in part because of its links to terrorist groups he was ridiculed. It was just a desperate ploy, said the cynics, to draw a link between Saddam and September 11.

So much for the cynics. It is clear now that militant Islamic terrorist mercenaries have been pouring into Iraq for some time, ready for a showdown. There are credible reports that many of these mercenaries have been trained by al-Qaeda, and have bolstered the so-called Saddam fedayeen, death squads run by Saddam’s son Uday.

Australian cameraman Paul Moran, who was buried yesterday in Adelaide, was killed by a suicide bomber since identified as a Saudi national. . . .

But if war against militant Islamic terrorists didn’t happen in Iraq now, it was going to have to happen somewhere, sooner or later. September 11 and Bali are proof enough.

Better to bring it on now, at a time of our choosing, with all the cockroaches gathered for a showdown out in the open in Iraq, rather than cower at home, our economies shrinking, our civilians picked off, our enemies growing stronger, until we finally wake up to the fact that fighting is necessary, and find it’s too late and we are too weak.

(Via Tim Blair).