If the American people and our leaders exhibit the kind of selfless generosity and magnanimity toward the mostly Islamic victims of the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean that we did for Europe with the Marshall Plan after World War II, it may serve, providentially, to bail us out of the Middle East quagmire we are caught up in – battered and chastened – with our honor restored and with the renewed respect and admiration of the peoples of the world.

And maybe then, please God, we may come to realize the folly and madness of trying to solve political problems by military means in the modern age.

Paul Corrao, Auburn