How are we safer?

The republicans have the great ability to make people believe something is true, even though it is not, if they just repeat it enough times ("Bush won the election"). The administration and the republicans are doing it now with the idea that we are safer today than we were before the war in Iraq. While the administration had several stated reasons for going to war, the most important was that Saddam had WMDs, and so he was a threat to the U.S. and the world. Bush has since declared that the war is essentially over ("Mission Accomplished" read the big banner). But two very, very important things are still missing: the WMDs (or any evidence that they were destroyed) and Saddam himself. Bush has said over and over that we have rid the world of Saddam, and that he won't be trouble anymore. Usually someone needs some sort of evidence to support what they are saying in order for people to believe them. But we don't know where Saddam is or where the WMDs are - so how exactly was the mission a success?

p.s. One of the funniest suggestions for where the WMDs are is that Saddam destroyed them as we entered Iraq. Why in the hell would he do that - to do us a favor? Maybe he was concerned that they would get into the hands of bad people, and he was worried that somebody might get hurt. The guy who allegedly spent millions developing these awful weapons would just decide that he would get rid of them instead of use them, or move them to a safe place. It's like a little kid who would save up his money for months for to get a great new toy, and when he finally had enough money he would buy it, take it home ... and throw it away without unwrapping it.