Interesting comment from Bush in 2000 on Iraq

[Almighty Colin]

Jeff,

Yes, just "making a point". The term Democrat, like Republican is a noble term to me. The political process may be ugly but I don't know of anything better. I think the US is better with both parties keeping a check on each other.

Good points. Here's the big question. What is the solution to international terrorism?

Every few days brings us new television images of disenfranchised Islamic kids with dirty socks pulled over their heads standing in back of a kneeling hostage. The AK47s and RPGs are standard issue. Whether in Mesopotamia, the Kingdom of Saud or the land of the Ottomans the message is the same. These people want to be disconnected from the rest of the world. They want to take their people back to medieval Arabia where Sharia is the only law of the land. They want to erase the state-system, they want to erase NATO, they want to erase the UN, they want to erase consensual governments. They want a world where women are subservient dogs and where the wrong speech is punishable by hangings in the town square and they want a world with no television or radio or other mass communications unless - in some cases - they are controlled by the states.

Will consensual governments change any of this? Will Middle Eastern Kingdoms, dictatorships, and emirships that connect to the world of free states by enrolling in organizations such as the WTO and expanding their economies with western styled economic systems have populations who feel they have something more to live for than the glory of their death? I don't know but I think it's worth the effort. The Middle Eastern world is being rocked by one of the biggest changes in its history. I, for one, hope it works.