M.E.T.A.

And so the next war in the Middle East starts with the creation of a new Middle Eastern Trade Association.

With a speech at the University of South Carolina, Bush has begun the next battle for the Middle East - the economic one. Bush has proposed creating a free trade area in the region, but only for nations that meet certain requirements: they must have free economies and they must combat terrorism. To those that qualify comes the potential for unfettered trade with the United States.

Watching their neighbors get rich will become a powerful incentive to the uninformed and unreformed to join the world community.

And Iraq, right in the center of the darkness of oppression in the region, will become the Middle East's version of West Berlin. It will become the beacon of hope that only freedom and free trade can provide.

The next battle will not be a military one, it will be economic. The first shot has been fired; an economic civil war within Islam is about to begin.

Got to give Bush and his team credit for a pretty brilliant plan to reshape the region.