This is why I love international policy scholars...

"Five years after the worst terrorist attacks ever on American soil, most members of a panel at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum suggested Monday evening (Sept. 11) that major strides in securing the nation against future terrorist attacks are being undermined by an aggressive foreign policy that has alienated many in the Muslim world. "

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/09.14/99-911panel.html

"Power said she remembered thinking on Sept. 11, 2001, that the attacks could push the nation in one of two opposite directions: toward greater empathy with the world or into a destructive cycle of fear and defensiveness. Five years later, she said, it's clear to her America has taken the latter path.

Oelstrom, who argued against immediately pulling American troops out of Iraq, said the country must do a better job of promoting its democratic credentials around the world.

"We need to figure out how to get our message out without forcing it out," the retired general said.

Moderator Joseph Nye Jr., a Kennedy School professor and former assistant secretary of defense for international security in the Clinton administration, rejected the notion that America is in the throes of an epic clash of civilizations with Islamic radicals.

"There's nothing Osama bin Laden and his colleagues would like more than to turn it into a clash of civilizations," Nye said, adding, "We cannot win unless the mainstream realm of Islam wins."

This is why they are the best. Because they can see things that others can't.

I couldn't concur more strongly.

Love, Ben