DJ: That's an optimistic note to finish on, though you were saying earlier that in general you were rather pessimistic about Western culture.

GW: I am very pessimistic about the whole world, including Germany, from the point of view that, despite all of the good things, there is that feu sacré: that feeling that we must fight; we must do everything and sacrifice anything, rather than have an appeasing policy. 

By withdrawing, we are giving the other people tremendous hope. Look, if you're an al-Qaeda man today, you read the papers, I'm sure they read things on the internet, and they know that all we want is to get out of everywhere, and then leave a vacuum. They step into the vacuum, and so it's as easy and clear as day follows night.