Having a fairly long commute, I shake down the USSOCOM library on a regular basis for books on CD. One that I highly recommend is "Children of Jihad." This accounting of the solo travels of Jared Cohen, a young Jewish American, through the most "radical" populaces of the Middle East to meet and talk to local young people provides a perspective that every American should be aware of. His journey takes him to Iran, Lebannon, Syria and Iraq.

What is often rolled up as "Anti-Americanism" is probably much more accurately described as "Anit-American Foreign Policy." The ideology upon which America was built still speaks to people around the world. The culture of America and the American people remain a fascination and a draw to people everywhere. Our government, at least the foreign manifestation of it, is however, roundly hated.

Somewhere along the line we strayed from being a world Leader, to being a world Controller. We all know the difference on how we feel about working with a strong leader and working with someone who seeks to exert their leadership through control. The good news is that we really don't need to change who we are to get along with the rest of the world, just how we chose to exercise our leadership.

Anyway, this was well worth the time.