Yes, I loved the speech. I was delighted but not surprised by the Iraqi vote. I never thought Arabs are stupid or like being voiceless. Remember, the word for vote in Arabic is voice. Moreover, All Iraqis have to do is to chose between a future as South Korea or Vietnam. Does anybody think that the Vietnamese people are more free without American troops than the South Koreans with American troops raise their hands. It is a no brainer.

Bush did an enormous favor to the Palestinians when he refused to deal with Arafat. Now he must not shower their new government with money because that would make them independent of their own people or more precisely, dependent on the wrong kind of people - bureaucrats and security forces. Indeed, the real tough negotiations with their political competitors would not be over policy but over the distribution of the foreign goodies!

I am not against helping rejuvenate the PA. The West Bank and Gaza is populated with highly educated and economically capable individuals. Seed money for business and rebuilding of infrastructure is the way to go. Let the Authority's money come from taxes, not from the outside otherwise the entire enterprise is doomed for failure AGAIN!

The PA must be dependent on the well being of the people. At least the American portion of the money should help make the PA so. I doubt the EU and their rest of the world will follow. They like that dependence and I am not sure they really want ME peace. After all, what they want is a wedge issue to use against the US.