By 2005 the so-called "War on Terrorism" was approaching its twentieth year. The assassination of Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi by bombing raid on April 15, 1986 struck at the very heart of Arab pride, Islamic unity and rejection of an overreaching American foreign policy that had interfered with the Middle East once too often. Almost 20 years later, the United States finds itself almost inextricably enmeshed in foreign wars of varying intensity, its economy reeling from staggering debt levels, clearing the way for the almost unthinkable: economists predict that by 2010 Japan's GNP and GDP will both at least equal those of the United States, if not surpass them. The crumbling Soviet Union is locked in a slow and bloody death spiral, with nationalist insurrections in Georgia and Chech