In the midst of his 6 country, eight day Middle East trip, President Bush urged Middle Eastern countries to reject the extremism represented by Iran and al-Qaeda and embrace democracy.Speaking to a gathering in the United Arab Emirites, the President called on the region's nation's to unite against Iran:Mr. Bush, speaking yesterday inside the $3 billion Emirates Palace Hotel to an audience of a few hundred, said regional hopes of peace and prosperity are threatened by "violent extremists who murder the innocent in pursuit of power." Iran, he said, is "the world's leading state sponsor of terror," and its actions, especially its defiance of United Nations resolutions against its nuclear-weapons program, "threaten the security of nations everywhere." "So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too...(Read Full Post)