Diane, I'm not talking about Iraq being a threat to Israel, I'm talking about the geopolitical placement of American forces in that region to defend against what are considered "real" threats. Iran for instance. It is certainly easier for America to "defend" Israel against Iran sitting in a country right next to it. With regards to Bush and Cheney, they did not want 9/11 investigated. And those investigations that did happen, had many problems because of the Bush Administration.