From a reader:

I wish somebody at Columbia would press him on what, exactly, he meant by this statement from his letter to President Bush:
“Liberalism and western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity,” said the letter, obtained late Monday by The Associated Press. “Today these two concepts have failed.”
It’s a statement that provides a rare moment of ideological clarity.
A follow up question for Western leftists: Do you agree with the above statement?

Me: without getting into the second question, I think the first would be good for A’Jad. I could swear he’s said some rah-rah stuff about democracy and freedom of speech in this talk.