In order to ebb the tide of terrorism, the next president of the United States will have to fix two paradoxes in America’s foreign policy. The first paradox is the belief that killing enough insurgents in Iraq will somehow stop terrorism.

Unfortunately, both Bush and Kerry still aren’t proposing to cut off terrorism at its source. A look at their policies shows that both candidates have no stance on dealing with the source of most Islamic fundamentalism — Saudi Arabia.

The global tide of Islamic fundamentalism, which stretches from western Africa to Southeast Asia, is flowing out of Saudi Arabia. The country pours billions of petrol dollars into funding madrassas across the globe, which are schools that train young children to hate non-Muslims and adopt a “convert or kill” approach to dealing with the infidel. In Pakistan, nearly 1.6 million children attend these schools.

Whoever is elected president, he must realize that ending terrorism is not as simple as killing a certain number of terrorists. Even if the current crop of insurgents in Iraq were detained or killed, there would be a new crop following in their footsteps, fresh out of the madrassa, waiting to declare a Holy War.

The second paradox of America’s war on terror is the belief that stabilizing Iraq will somehow make the Middle East love America. Though bringing democracy to Iraq would be a monumental event, it doesn’t change the fundamental problem that has created enmity between us and the Arab countries — Israel.

Israel is the lens through which the Middle East looks at all of our actions. It is their Sept. 11. And it is the source of much hatred toward the United States, creating bizarre conspiracy theories, such as the one that America is controlled by Jews.

But the Middle East has some good reasons for this enmity. America has never spoken out against Israel for its settlements in the Gaza Strip, which had prevented the Palestinians from freedom, and other human rights violations.

As long as we unquestionably support Israel, the Arab countries will see our intentions as being hypocritical and dubious. The next president needs to keep supporting Israel, but never shy away from condemning its actions.