"U.S. workers in Saudi Arabia advised to leave,î staff, USA Today, 4 May, p. 7A.

ìAfter Attack, Companyís Staff Plans to Leave Saudi Arabia,î by Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 3 May, p. A9.

This is basically the pattern I cite as the modus operandi of the bin Ladens and al Qaedas of the region: drive out the West so the Middle East can be hijacked from history and returned to some 7th century definition of the good life. The temptation to give in to this offer of civilizational apartheid is great, if not for Asiaís energy requirements. To say youíre interested in making sure a billion Muslims arenít left behind by history . . . that just gets you charges of being ìdisingenuousî from radio call-ins (ìYou know itís all about the oil.î).

On bad days, you wish there wasnít any oil in the Gulf, cause then we could let these people kill and suppress each other like crazy, blathering on about how their ìhonorî was being upheld throughout. But not giving up on the Middle East means not giving up on a future worth creatingómaking globalization truly global. It drives me nuts whenever I hear that itís all about the oil for us and all about the honor for them. Why is it that America is the only country in the world that regularly sends its sons and daughters to hell-holes on the other side of the planet to bring peace?

Get used to the dark days, because we canít leave the Middle East until the Middle East joins the world, otherwise weíll give into the nonsense that describes a new Cold War between the West and Islam (like in the Baltimore Sun review of my book).