“In his interview with the Monitor, Howard Dean repeated his contention that Saddam Hussein’s recent capture had made America no safer.

‘My opponents spent the week criticizing me for that, which I think was to their detriment’ since the federal government had just increased the terror alert level to orange, indicating an elevated risk of an attack.

But he said two other recent events had benefited national security: the capture of a ship loaded with drugs in the Persian Gulf – ‘which is almost certainly how al-Qaida is partly financing their operations,’ Dean said – and Libya’s decision to declare its illegal weapons programs and get rid of them.” Concord (NH) Monitor

Dean doesn’t mention the unabated continuation of assassinations of US occupiers by insurgents, which has prompted an increased bounty on the heads of the remaining at-large Baathist most wanted.