Victor Davis Hanson lists a bunch of postive developments that would have seemed unimaginable on the evening of 9/11, including the takedown of Saddam and the Taliban. But one item in this litany of success rings a little false: "(A)ll troops slated to leave Saudi Arabia and by our own volition, not theirs."

Well, kinda. One of Bin Laden'­s key goals was getting us infidels out of Saudi Arabia, and our departure follows in a direct path from the events precipitated by his terrorist attacks. The rest of his agenda, of course, is looking quite a bit less robust, and the changes in Saudi society he has set into motion may not break his way. But in the same way that Hitler deserved to be Time's Man of the Year, Osama deserves some credit for the repositioning of US troops in the Middle East.

I got the link from InstaPundit, who follows up Hanson'­s lament that the media is reporting only negatives with a remarkable statemnt: "If we lose this war, that will be why. Fortunately, however, what Andrew Sullivan correctly called a 'fifth column' back in 2001 is limited in numbers and influence, despite its broad representation in media."

Sullivan quickly backed away from the term "fifth column," which means "traitor," and I don'­t think it needs to be revived now.