Lee Hsien Loong - I thanked the President [George W. Bush] for the steadfastness and resolve

I thanked the President [George W. Bush] for the steadfastness and resolve with which he's tackling the very complicated problems in the Middle East and Iraq, as well as the Israel-Palestinian issue....It's critical for us in Southeast Asia that America does that.... because it affects America's standing in Asia and the world, and also the security environment in Asia because extremists, the jihadists, watch carefully what's happening in the Middle East and take heart, or lose heart, depending on what's happening.

- Lee Hsien Loong

source: "Farewell To All That: An Oral History Of The Bush White House" by Cullen Murphy and Todd S. Purdum, www.vanityfair.com. February 2009.