The cover of this week's Time magazine blares: 'Mission Not Accomplished' - as if the Iraq war has suddenly morphed into a total failure. But is that true?

The mission was to get rid of Saddam. He's gone from power. It's an ongoing frustration that he hasn't been caught, but his removal has already brought a major shift in the Middle East, the center of terrorist threats.

Oddly enough, Saddam's exit has been most quickly accepted in the Arab world. The famous 'Arab street' didn't erupt. Al-Jazeera TV lost some credibility. And post-Saddam Iraqi leaders were welcomed into OPEC and the Arab League.

It hasn't led to instant Arab-Israeli peace, but it has enormously reduced the potential support for Mideast terror. Saddam is no longer there to bribe the families of homicide bombers. No one but terrorists regrets his fall.

And others, notably Russian President Vladimir Putin this weekend, have joined Bush in warning the other two nations with Iraq in his 'Axis of Evil' - North Korea and Iran - against any nuclear-weapons ambitions.

All of which suggests that Bush's action against Iraq strengthened America's credibility around the world, rather than weakening it as critics claim.

After Bush spoke to the United Nations last week, the loudest foes of the Iraq war - France and Germany - rushed to snuggle up to the president and say they'd like a role in postwar Iraq.