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Buried in the rubble of Riyadh are some of the Bush administration's basic assumptions: that Al Qaeda was finished, that invading Iraq would bring regional stability and that a show of American superpower against Saddam would cow terrorists.

I can't recall these assumptions ever coming from the Bush administration... I guess if she says Bush said these things, it easier for her to say "not so fast..." Can't the left argue honorably? (rhetorical question, I know)

"Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. "Al Qaeda is on the run," President Bush said last week. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. . . . They're not a problem anymore.""

Did Bush actually say "They're not a problem anymore"? If he did, it would be out of character, since he has never seemed to believe that terrorism can be completely wiped out, only curtailed and - hopefully - kept out of the USA. I would like to know what words Dowd omitted where those dots are; I would not be surprised if those words completely changed the meaning of the "They're not a problem anymore" comment.