McGrath, I won't defend Thatcher, but I have to disagree with you about Bush. It was extremely important for him to address his own country first, the rest of the world second. I think he managed to do both, but some people seem to feel that he should have weakened his statements to Congress in order to make them more palatable to people in other countries. Again, I disagree -- the USA was on the receiving end of a vicious attack, and Bush's speech needed to be appropriately vigorous to match the scale of the attack.

In fact, I think the rest of the world would have responded less favorably if Bush's speech had been less vigorous; both our enemies and our friends needed to hear a message of strength and determination. Bush needed to let Americans and others know that we would respond to this attack with intelligence, determination, and strength. I think he hit it just right.