Kyoto, Ahmed, and Junior

So, I was watching the Newshour on PBS, as I am known to do sometimes. There was a discussion between a white woman from the Clinton and the Carter administration and a white bearded dude from the AEI about the Kyoto treaty on global warming. Anyways, the white bearded dude suggested that our attitude about the Kyoto treaty had nothing to do with other nations' cooperation on the war on terror. Despite the obvious connection between Islamic terrorism and pollution--they are mad at us because we are there; we are there because they have oil; burning oil in mass quantities causes series air pollution--this gentleman suggested that nations are going to assist us on the war on terrorism merely because it is in their self interest. Now, the Madrid bombing aside, this guy is an idiot.
(I mention Madrid because those trains would probably never have been targeted if Jose Maria Aznar hadn't caved to Bush's demand for troops, even though 80% of his people were against the Iraq War. Miguel, Janna's and my Spanish host dad, was telling me in 2002 about how he thought the Spanish should instate the dealth penalty for Basque terrorists--his lovely wife, Carmen being Basque--however, he felt that George Bush was crazy and unbalanced.)
Anyways, the bearded white guy is an idiot, and this is why. Let me tell you a story about two neighbors. One neighbor, let's call him Ahmed, had a tree on his yard that had poisonous berries. This tree was becoming overgrown, and it began to hang over into the second neighbor's yard, let's call him Junior. Well, one day, one of Junior's favorite show dogs happens to go outside and eat some poisoned berries. Junior comes home and cries his little heart out.
Then, he goes next door to Ahmed's house and demands that Ahmed cut down the entire lovely tree. When Ahmed goes inside to call an arborist, Junior comes over with a chainsaw and chops down Ahmed's tree, which happens to fall on Ahmed's roof. Then Junior goes home and gives his housekeeper a raise, whose job it was to keep the stupid dog inside in the first place.
The next day, Ahmed comes over, and although he is somewhat upset about the tree that fell on his house, he only has one request for Junior. He asks Junior to kindly turn off a pipe that pumps pure arsenic out of Junior's house into the local water lines. Junior not only tells Ahmed that he should have a roof that is tree proof, but that if he, Junior, cuts off the arsenic flowing into the water supply, Junior will suffer a 10% cut in his billion dollar-a-year salary. Ahmed is somewhat miffed, because he manages to support his family with a modest $40,000 per annum.
However the story has somewhat of a happy ending, Ahmed develops technology to purify drinking water from the arsenic, sells it to his neighbors, and manages to retire to a nice gated community in Tampa. When his flight arrives at Tampa International, he is arrested and charged with being a Muslim at an airport. This, like being black on a Friday night, is only a misdeanor, and he is released on his own recognisance, although his brother, an American citizen arrested in Riyadh, is being imprisoned indefinitely by the Saudis without a formal charge.