Political Quotes

“I spoke a few weeks ago about my belief that the United States needs to more actively and constructively involve itself in educating the citizens of the Muslim world about our culture, values, and everyday life, and that, likewise, Americans need to become better educated about Muslim countries and the religion of Islam. As I have stated before, it seems to me that the time has come to be honest with ourselves about why international terrorism has become such a growing threat. Our citizenry does not understand the Muslim world, and citizens of Muslim countries do not understand us. I believe that if both the East and the West had a true understanding of the similarities inherent in our value systems that the world would be a safer place. We need only look into the oppressed faces of the citizens of some of the governments we have supported over the years, despite their less than acceptable treatment of their own citizenry, to see why some of the residents of these countries continue to cling to misguided perceptions of America's vision and values. The young people in many of these countries grow up hating their leaders for their oppression and, subsequently, they begin to hate our own country for keeping them in power. It is then easy for the likes of the Osama bin Ladens of this world to persuade these young people to become terrorism's footsoldiers convinced that violence is the answer to their grievances.”