The International Institute for Strategic Studies released its annual report today. The report showed that, as I have been saying for at least a year now, the U.S. led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has actually boosted al-Qaida’s membership. So here is a message to every conservative I have talked to in the last year who has told me about what a great job Bush is doing of fighting terrorism. I hate to say, “I told you so.” Oh, who am I kidding? I love saying, “I told you so.” Nothing makes me feel quite as good as sweet vindication.

While the United States has been successful at killing or capturing a few thousand al-Qaida members, the terrorist organization now has approximately 18,000 members. While many of those fighters were driven out of Afghanistan during the war against the Taliban, the group has since “dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat.” And unlike America, they’ve been making friends, working with local allies in countries around the world.

The IISS report also revealed that the war in Iraq has cleared the way for al-Qaida operations in the country. While the area was formerly off limits to the terrorists because of Hussein’s strict security, “up to 1,000 foreign Islamic fighters have infiltrated Iraqi territory, where they are cooperating with Iraqi insurgents.”

I, like so many other Americans, believe that stopping terrorism is an important objective. However, “President” Bush has not been fighting terrorism. He might mouth the words and invoke the name of September 11 every chance he gets in an attempt to whip people into line. But the reality is that Bush has made the world a more dangerous place for Americans than it has ever been before.

If Bush were really interested in fighting terrorism he would have taken the time to do things right in Afghanistan. If he were really interested in fighting terrorism he wouldn’t have started a war with Iraq, especially when there are still terrorists and Taliban fighters working in Afghanistan. But Bush obviously has no interest in fighting terrorism. He’s only interested in using this so-called “War on Terror” to advance his own political agenda.

If you consider fighting terrorism the most important issue in this election, George W. Bush is the worst choice you could possibly make.