The Conservative Cat

The trip was filled with platitudes and assurances, but every now and then there was steel behind the flowers.

The most powerful message that I have heard here is that there is a strong desire to move forward on a common agenda, and that common agenda is actually very well understood. We all have the same elements to that common agenda. We know that we need to fight terrorism, but we need to do much more, that we need to have an antidote to the ideology of hatred that has produced the extremism, and that’s why it’s important to push forward on reform in the Middle East, in concert and in partnership with those who want a different kind of Middle East. We have talked about the need for seizing the opportunities, perhaps, to move the Israeli-Palestinian issue forward; the Balkans was on the agenda; Afghanistan was on the agenda; support for a stable and democratic Iraq was on the agenda.

There is a lot of analysis going on today. People are talking about what the Iraq election results mean and whether the cease-fire will last.

It's important to understand a few things. Many people believe improving the lot of the common folk in the world can take the teeth out of terrorism. Unfortunately, foreign aid to a dictatorship has a tendency to end up in the pockets of the dictators instead of the common folk. The purpose of cultivating democracies is to change that.

It's entirely possible that it won't work, but short of exterminating half the population of the Middle East, is there another plan on the table?

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat