Thank you, Chatham House for reporting what those of us on the angry American left have been saying for quite some time.

The "war on terror" is helping terrorists in ways that couldn't be achieved with just donations. And now we know just whom we've been helping this entire time.

Iran.

The British think-tank Chatham House just released a report saying that "there was little doubt that Iran had been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror." A grand total of over $400 billion goes a long way. Let's examine some of what the Jerusalem Post notes:

"The United States, with coalition support, has eliminated two of Iran's regional rival governments, [the Taliban and Saddam Hussein], but has failed to replace either with coherent and stable political structures."

The Hong Kong-based Asia Times notes:

The [Israel-Lebanon] conflict also boosted Iran's popularity to unprecedented levels on the Arab street, according to a Wednesday report by leading British think-tank Chatham House, giving Tehran even greater leverage to use at the international bargaining table.

For Israel, we all know -- the battle in Lebanon was a battle for the survival of Israel as a nation. Israel had been talking about Clean Break policies of abandoning "land for peace" and other peace tactics since 1996, again, out of an instinct for its survival. Granted, that was Netanyahu, the Israeli PM who effectively told the US to STFU when it came to Israel's self defense.

But the US?

Iran has apparently been swift to fill the power void in the Middle East. Bereft of the secular Hussein regime and with the hardline Islamist Taliban regime in Afghanistan fighting up against the wall, Iran's charismatic and relatively moderate Ahmadenijad enjoys public support not unlike Britney Spears.

Not only does this screw Israel:

Fears of a resurgent Iran led an Israeli minister on Tuesday to warn that Israel should build more bomb shelters. "The Iranians have said very clearly that if they come under attack, their primary target would be Israel." Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan told Israel Radio.

But this also screws America and the world:

Meanwhile experts predict that if Iran is able to continue enrichment work unchecked, it may be able to construct nuclear warheads by 2010.

(Wait, 2010, isn't that the kick-off of the North American Union in which the US, Canada and Mexico are supposed to have an "integrated economic and security partnership"? But I digress.)

Our own government can't even assess what Iran's true nuclear capabilities are.

We've increased his PR through what we've done in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We've given him an unending stream of volunteers and people ready to join the militia groups that he and his Syrian counterpart are aiding -- Ahmadenijad with the funding and Syria with the logistics. In addition, much of Iran's current wave of confidence is underpinned by the extensive ties Iran has with Russia.

How can columnist Yasmine Rassam even come out of her face to say that a pullout of Iraq now would be a decisive victory for Iran? What more could we do for him that we're not doing already? This neo-con lie of "we're creating democracy in a free Iraq" gets harder to believe with every passing murder.

The "mission accomplished" against terrorism gets harder to stomach with every passing Osama Bin Laden sighting.

Senator Joseph Lieberman already said he "sees Iranian danger in U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with Iran moving in." Moving IN? They are not only already there, Iran has replaced the US -- and the Coalition -- as the key power in Iraq!

How much more ammunition do we need to give to Ahmadinejad? Or have we made the bed that we are tragically doomed to lie in?