[Lt_Apple]

I believe that the time is coming soon for the American president, as leader of the most powerful nation on Earth, to address the other nations of the world directly - a sort of press conference for the globe. This is in light of the pre-existing, but growing, Anti-Americanism, that I feel may be based, at least in Europe and Asia, as much by lack of understanding as by opposition. This is especially true if George Bush is re-elected, as his admitted lack of any tact has left the citizens of the world confused and anxious - President Bush needs to realize, that for better or worse, he must not only shepherd the American people, but those of the world community as well.

The speech would be something like this:

" In the 1930's the world saw the rise of a certain, dangerous idea which combined nationalism, intolerance, ethnic hatreds and militarism. This idea manifest itself in many variations. It appeared in one form in Spain. In another in Japan. In another in Arabia. In another in Italy, another in Vicci France, and still another in Nazi Germany.

The world, weary from the first World War, wanted to ride out this idea instead of confront it. First they hoped that if you ignored it it would go away on its own. Then they hoped that you could negotiated with this idea. The world hoped that if you sacrificed a nation, say Spain or Czekoslovakia, that this idea would be satisfied. The world hoped that if they stood aside and allowed the sacrifice, the murder, of a group of people, be it homosexuals, or gypsies, or Jews, that this ... idea would not come for them.

But this idea was not satisfied. With every sacrifice given to them the beast became more hungry. With every sign of weakness the monsters were emboldened. And the world, trapped by its human anxiety, and its lack of backbone, did not confront this idea until it was almost too late. Imagine if Hitler had the Atom Bomb before he had launched his insane war.

Europe, and the world, have since had generations of relative quiet. There has been the cold war, there were many terrible and bloody 'little wars', and at time the world seemed at brink of destruction. But the horrors of the Second World War have not been repeated, at least not in the Western world, and the nations who swore to never forget seemed to have broken that promise.

Today, we face a new, and growing idea. Like the idea that led to the Nazis, this idea combines ethnic hatreds & intolerance with political ambitions. Like the idea that led to the Nazis, this new idea comes in many forms. It may be masked in religious zealotry, or in secular nationalism or ethnocentrism, but the core of the idea remains the same. And, just like Naziism, the goal is to replace our admittedly imperfect liberal western societys with a different form of world, a world under a brutal, intolerant, and dangerous rule. A world were individual rights are subjugated, were death is celebrated. This is why we have used the world evil.

For decades we, the world, have tried not to see this idea. We pretended that it was a series of local conflicts. Kashmere. The Balklans. Israel and Palestine. North Africa. Lebanon. The Ayatollas in Iran. The Taliban in Afghanistan. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Al-queda in Saudi Arabia.

The United States was hand in hand with the world in ignoring this new idea. Until our ignorance came back to haunt us, on September 11, 2001. On that day, like on December 7, 1941, Sixty years earlier, America was woken up to the fact that we could no longer hide ourselves to the dangers of this new idea.

Worse, in an era of weapons of Mass Destruction, the threats to our way of life, to the worlds way of life, to the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. So the United States of America went to war...and we hope that we have done so before it is too late. We struck at religious expressions of this terrible idea - Jihadism, and we struck at secular expressions of this idea.

Reaction to our going to war was decidedly mixed. To those who espoused this idea, this confrontation inflamed thie passions. This reaction, however, was expected - the fascists and their sympathisers were enraged when they were opposed just the same.

But there was another group, an anxious group, a group who still clung, who may still cling, desperately to the idea that maybe the Jihadists aren't real...maybe they can be bought off...maybe if you sacrifice enough nations or people, be they Iraqi workers or African Sudaneese or moviegowers in Russia or disenters in Gaza or Jews in Israel, that this idea would not come for them. And even with the Bombings in Madrid and Indonesia and the kidnapping of innocent truck drivers and engineers, many in this world still want to hope that with enough appeasment, maybe this idea will simply go away.

History has taught us otherwise.

We are in a war. It is a war of ideas. It is a war of tolerance, commerce, a secular daily life and individual liberties, versus endless Jihad and religiously linked dictatorships. And in this war, there is no in between. You are for one, or the other, because a failure to act will surely lead to doom.

But you do not have to fear. In a The United States is with you. It is with Spain. It is with Italy. It is with France and Russia and Germany and the UK. It is with Mexico and Argentina and Brazil and Venezuela. It is with Japan and the Phillipines and with Thailand and with Indonesia. It is with Poland, and Australia, and Turkey, and India and Iraq. And it is with all those who love freedom and tolerance throughout the world.

Yes, we are all vulnerable. In free and open societies, there will always be the threat of a bomb on a subway or a chemical released in a building or a kidnapping at a school. That is why we must discredit this ideology of hate by making those who carry its banner, and those who give them aid and comfort, see the carrot of free societies and feel the stick of the terrible consequences that come to those who would attempt to destroy our precious liberties and way of life.

But the United States cannot fight this war for you, nor can if fight this war alone. Already, many nations have contributed towards this fight. And while we may disagree on which battles to pick, we all agree on our shared principles, and we all agree about the dangers.

This is no time to be wobly. I, the President of the United States, am here, in front of you, on behalf of all the American people, on behalf of all people in this world who love tolerance and liberty...I am asking you to join us. The United States needs your help. It needs you not to turn a blind eye to terror or ethnic intolerance. It needs you to defeat the temptation to offer just one more thing, one more person, in appeasement. It needs you to overcome the petty differences of pride and rivalry that sometimes comes between nations of common values and good will. It needs you to go out and spread the values that we all take for granted to all those who do not yet understand, or appreciate, what we fought two world wars and a cold war to protect.

For we are at war...of this there is no doubt...and the ideas that oppose us will not just go away...and none of us can win this war alone. Together, though, together, we can defeat this growing threat before it becomes a threat akin in power as well as ambition to the fascists. Together, and only together, we can make this world once again safe for democracy.

Join us."