leading the world economy" with the alternative "shut[ting] ourselves off from trade and opportunity," a warning against protectionism and isolationism. The President cited a foiled terror plot in Los Angeles, where terrorists supposedly planned to hijack a plane and fly it into the Liberty Tower. Democracy versus tyranny Bush stated that America's involvement in Afghanistan is a necessity, part of an overall historical goal of trying to end tyranny worldwide, because "problems originating in a failed and oppressive state seven thousand miles away" orchestrated the September 11th attacks and continue to "shelter terrorists, feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction" whereas Democracies give hope and "respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors." The president pointed out that there are 98 more Democratic countries in 2006 than there were in 1945, in addition to Women's suffrage in Afghanistan, the Purple Revolution in Iraq, and political discourse in Lebanon and Egypt, as evidence that Democracy, freedom, and self-governance have grown throughout the world. Although many social and political analysts would agree that more people live in free and fair societies than at the end of World War II, all of the examples Bush provided lay in the Middle East. He went on to say that the "demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require... freedom" for the citizens of nations in the Axis of Evil; Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran. Radical Islam Shifting away from the comparison of democracy and dictatorship during the Cold War and post-9/11 America, Bush outlined the major opposition to freedom as radical Islam, which he defines as "the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death." See also: Religion of Peace He stressed that "bin Laden [is] serious about mass murder" and wants to "impose... totalitarian control throughout the Middle East, and arm [al Qaeda] with weapons of mass murder. Their aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven... When they murder children at a school in Beslan, or blow up commuters in London, or behead a bound captive, the terrorists hope these horrors will break our will." He indirectly referenced the Beatitudes by saying the terrorists hope that breaking the will of the U.S. will allow "the violent to inherit the Earth." Retreat from evil In a verbal attack on "isolationist" and "appeasing" sentiments,