Depending on the Bible to define current situations is a conversation ender, and it shuts the door on any possible improvement, not to even metnion resolution.. Not everyone reads the same sacred texts. In Israel, some feel they are being held hostage by the biblically inspired, as a matter of fact. How then to accomodate the Muslims' own promise from God for the same teal estate?

The historic hatreds in the region are educational but hardly unique. There is not a region on earth without a history of wars, invasions, conquests, subjugation and hatreds. In modern times, historic hatreds played a partt in the breakup of what was once Yugoslavia. This is an old song, replayed all over the world, and it should not be used as an excuse to avoid tackling the problems of today, as they exist today, not in Biblical prophecies, or distant histories.

That kind of divine entitlement has led to as much bloodshed than the quest for wealth,or power to be extracted from ownership of territories. Europe could only begin to dream of peace when the role of the divine was extracted from settling earthy matters.

It is true that the problems of the ME can not be easily or qickly settled.
It is alos true that Israel is, in some ways, used as a scapegoat, just as the US is.
Those conditions, should not be used as alibi for inertia or for the lack of care to aboid making matters even worse.

“Why is al Qada at war with us? You can talk all day about how they “hate us for our freedoms” or how they want to convert us – and the entire world – to Islam. But in the end, it’s Israel. It’s always been Israel. It is, for so many of these nations, the perpetual thorn in their collective side… the wound which will never heal…”

Israel is not a thorn as much as it is a convenient scapegoat. Chris touched on the issue, but he did not go back far enough, historically, to get the real story. The Nomadic tribes that people todays modern Syria, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been at war with one another since the beginning of time! Nothing that we say or do will ever change the generations of hatred. Especially when you have things like Hammas TV's version of Sesame Street that teaches the littlest of little ones that hatred and killing is ok.

You are right when you say that the REALITY of withdrawal is not as easy as the rhetoric says. Even if we ordered immediate withdrawal, it would take months just to get the logistics done.

Israel IS strong because of the support that they got from the US and Britain. To totally write off Europe as being anti-Israel is easy but it is a cheap cop out. Many European leaders have helped make sure that Israel could be where she is today – standing strong. I think what would surprise many is that Israel could probably stand strong without our help. However, if you are in to this, we would be in a world of hurt if we ever abandoned Israel. Say what you will about John Hagee, he is Biblically correct about Israel.

Solving the problems in the Middle East are not easy – as history has shown us. Expecting an easy solution now, is naive at best.

LL

I think that's correct about Olmert. His political future may soon be truncated, however. And then?
Those lining up to take his place appear to be ameanble to taking risky action.

But I think that an Israel-Iran conflict is extremely unlikely. While I'm sure there are some in the U. S. who would relish such an action, would the Israelis? I think the Israelis would prefer that we solve their problem for them but IMO we would be very imprudent if we did.

To measure whether Israel will attack Iran don't look at the merits of such a course of action, take the political temperature of the Israeli electorate. Right now there's an unpopular, possibly corrupt PM holding on by the skin of his teeth to his job, largely because the alternatives would be worse. Attacking Iran won't strengthen his hand. Will a government as weak as Olmert's in a parliamentary democracy start a war? I don't think so.

Because of the animosity of its neighbors, I also recognize that the world community nees to cut Israel some slack when comparing it to other countries regarding what it deems necessary to do for the sake of security.

The argument is really about limits: when does special consideration and support turn into a carte blanche for anything and everything Israel does?
The US has, somehow changed from being the bigger, supportive brother of Israel into being a doting nanny, at the beck and call of every demand by the smaller and weaker Israel.

The fusion of the two counties into one political enttity is serving neither well.
This is particularly apparent when it comes to the very real threat posed by Iran.
When the US speaks to the threat, it is dismissed by much of the world as the voice of Israel's agent, not Israel's ally or a nation concerned about the spread of nuclear capabilities overall.

Sacrificed to the current accent on Israel's safety is the threat that a nuclear Iran would pose to the whole region. The Sunni nations would feel threatend as well, but he US makes it all about Iand only about Israel, losing another opportunity to beocme credible to the Arab world. and thus being helpful to Israel in the long run.
Keeping this as a strictly Israeli safety issue also paints a target on Israel's back.
It is now all about Israel, when it shouldn't be. It is really about the stability of the ME and the safety of the world community.

What would Obama do? it's more a question of what could Obama do. Unfortunately no one warned Israel or its more emotional supporters about the dangers of getting what you wsh for.

If no drastic action has been taken when the next president takes office, I would hope that at least reframing the issue iin terms much broader than israel's saffety would be possible.

As to the other reasons you cite for Islamic anger toward us, they are all valid. But in my opnion only, they pale in comparison to the issue of Israel.

Anyways, I wanted to take issue with you on a couple of points:

Why is al Qada at war with us? You can talk all day about how they “hate us for our freedoms” or how they want to convert us – and the entire world – to Islam. But in the end, it’s Israel.

That may in fact be a big part of it, but it's not the entire story. Britain and the United States have attempted to rule and control the Middle East since at least the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This has meant military and economic interference on a grand scale. That kind of interference has historically bred outrage. The American Revolution is a good example.

As for Bin Laden specifically, he spoke out against the Saudi government for allowing our troops to be stationed there in the early 1990s.

They will also have to deal with the reality of disentangling ourselves from Iraq as opposed to the easy rhetoric of calling for immediately moving toward withdrawl.

I have to categorically reject this idea that withdrawal isn't a serious course of action. It's highly condescending.