In context, the statement makes sense.
I disagree. The Middle East has been far from "nice and cozy" for a long time. First you have the Israel-Palestine situation. Then you have Iraq-Kuwait. Or, for even more fun, you can look at Iran, Lebanon, or Syria. I don't think anything looked fine on the surface.
I do agree that it is in the long-term interest of this country to address the root causes of these extremists killing people. But I don't think the current Bush strategy IS addressing the root causes.
