Stop trying to be so tactful, President Bush

I really like President Bush, and I strongly believe in the Bush doctrine. I just wish he'd stop trying to be so politic and tactful, and say things like they really are. Here's Australian Prime Minister spelling out what's really going on to a clueless reporter:

MAXINE McKEW: Prime Minister, if as you say you can't rule out that possibility that we could have potential bombers right here in Australia, what if today's announcement, this redeployment to Afghanistan and our continued presence in Iraq is all the provocation they need? JOHN HOWARD: Maxine, these people are opposed to what we believe in and what we stand for, far more than what we do. If you imagine that you can buy immunity from fanatics by curling yourself in a ball, apologising for the world -- to the world -- for who you are and what you stand for and what you believe in, not only is that morally bankrupt, but it's also ineffective. Because fanatics despise a lot of things and the things they despise most is weakness and timidity. There has been plenty of evidence through history that fanatics attack weakness and retreating people even more savagely than they do defiant people.

Hat tip: The inimitable Paragraph Farmer, who found this quotation at Instapundit: