Michael

Wow. Darn! I wish I was here for all the shooting. I see all the chairs are broken. Hmm....I can't break anything. Oh well.

Gentlemen, I think we all know the sensitivity of the topic at hand and the intricacy of it. I cannot go back and address everything that has been said, but I will go from what I can remember.

First, I believe it was mistake to go into Iraq, nevertheless, I will not for once ever subscribe to the propaganda about the US going into Iraq to spread Democracy in the region. First and foremost, democracy in such a region is not necessarily impossible but rather difficult. I am sure that many American's were oblivious to all of the regional issues before 9/11 occured. To me, the issue with Iraq goes far beyond liberating them. The Iraqi people were enslaved by Saddam Hussein and the party he belonged to for a long time. He was an evil man, that assured himsefl, and the people of Iraq, that messing with him and/or plotting against him was out of the question. He was a very paranoid man which is why he would have a double and would make sure that his food was tested before he ate. With all of that said, Iraq was in way better shape when he was in charge then what it is now.

Granted, Iraq is suffering from a change of power and civil unrest. In addition to this, there is an influc of insurgents. However, the American view and approach to things in Iraq was dead wrong from the beginning. We should not have gone into Iraq period. However, our strong alley, Israel, suffers a great deal in the future if we were not to take a stand in the region. Doing so would offer an opportunity for the US to expand it's influence. An influence, that in my opinion, doesn't seem to be going very well.

Let's face it, the US is arrogant and running out of fuel. We cannot continue to be pushing people like we do. I hate, sometimes, to be referred to as an American. The 'American' image has been so tainted that many Americans are not given a chance to speak. I for one am an American, but not Bush's American. I truly dislike the fact that our President, has tarnished and gravely hurt the image of the United States.

Yes of course, Israel is the priced possession of the US in the region. The jewish community in the US has a grave interest in what happens in both domestic issues regarding foreign Israeli issues. The bottom line is that the jewish community has a strong hold on what is going on with our foreign policy when it comes to the Middle East. I personally do not agree with the bias towards the community itself. The Palestinians have a right, just as the jews do, to the territory which is occupied currently by Israel. I researched, read, wrote, and discussed a tremendous amount on the zionist movement. To be hoenst with you, I don't subscribe to the belief that the jews have a right to Israel, or Palestine. There have been a lot of injustices commited by Israel, one of which being what happened last summer in Labanon. I truly think that in order to make things work, we must be fair on both ends. I just cannot conceive how the US has been such a strong supporter of Israel for so many years. I cannot believe we do not have an American President that will stand to have an equal discussion, and solve the problem equally. Without the support of the US, Israel is at it alone. There needs to be a resolution reached in the region in order to move forward on some sort of positive note.