There's a lot of debate about the economic cost of the Iraq war. But does anyone dare believe that the threat of terrorism will be reduced once Saddam Hussein is defeated?

A successful outcome of the war will mean that weapons of mass destruction will be less likely to fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda and other terrorists. But this is offset by the fact that anger could be further fueled within the Muslim and Arab world spawning a new generation of terrorist recruits. Already Muslim extremists in Indonesia are seeing the invasion of Iraq as an act of aggression against their fellow Muslim brethrens by the Great White Satan.

Perhaps the most convincing argument against the war is that it will play into the hands of the terrorists. If this is true, the world will look forward to more troubled times.