Do you honestly think Arafat, OBL, Saddam, and other terrorists give a crap what the Pope thinks?
What could be better for a jihad than having the head of the "infidel" Catholic Church declare these Islamic figures evil?
I mean, come on, no offense, but use your head.
I am sure the pope knows that what he says matters not in stopping the Islamic cults, but that what he says about the US and Bush, matters very much to our enemies, the "international community", the UN, the French and the Germans.
Which is exactly why he said it, to hurt the President politically. And because he knows that the US will not order suicide bombings on the innocents of Italy or the Vatican.
As with Israel for the last decades, the pope and the "international community" that he seems to believe in, believes the US also deserves a public dress-down, for fighting terrorism, and an opinion on how to fight it.
It is obvious. And my head tells me, he could say many things, in many different ways, to many different people, in many different forums.
He chose today, when being presented with a high honor from the US.
In this important time, he chose to slap the President of the US.