One Saturday in Iraq, on a busy stretch of road far from U.S. checkpoints, anti-democratic terrorists murdered an acqaintence of mine—Marla Ruzicka.

We met at the home of Eli Lake, a New York Sun reporter who regularly scoops the bigger media on national security and middle-eastern affairs. A few of us stepped outside to smoke and talk about Iraq, where each of us had been. She seemed incredibly intrepid; a short blonde who didn’t like guns journeying into war zones to help the people that the cameras ignore.

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An Iranian opposition group has announced that all contracts with the government of Iran, signed after the June 16 presidential elections, will be “null and void” in a free Iran. Hat tip: Gary Metz at Regime Change Iran. Apparently the Iranian democratic opposition has learned something from Iraq’s experience; that young democracy is saddled with Saddam’s debts while the contracts helped fuel support for his tyranny. The Iranian opposition has learned a lot from Iraq. Has Chirac or Shroeder?

If I had a dollar for every person who has asked me about terrorists sneaking across the Rio Grande, I’d be buying a G-5. My response always surprises them—the bigger danger is on the Northern border. Ahmed Ressam, who plotted to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999, was arrested on the Washington State-Canada frontier. A number of al Qaeda cells have been broken up inside Canada. AQ finds Canada more attractive as a staging area for a number of reasons: its extensive welfare state means that it costs the terror organization less to maintain cells, its law enforcement is generally more politically correct and it is easier to enter the US from the north. No burning deserts, no Minuteman patrols.

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Critics have long maintained that the “neo-cons” went around the pros in the intelligence community to lay the foundation for the liberation of Iraq, a move they find unforgiveable. Well, the latest commission to take a look at the issue—and had access to intelligence documents—has put that to rest. Bear in mind, the majority of the commission were Democrats (including a judge appointed by President Carter).