We don't negotiate with terrorists.

It doesn't; that's the reason why our country lost most of our good allies, but especially our Arab/Muslim friends that see our support of Israel and our preemptive attack on Iraq as a stab in the back.

The increased sectarian violence in Iraq and Lebanon are only making more enemies for the US and the other sects.

Wars cannot be won with guns and bombs; they only create more enemies for all sides.

Military might does not equal right or superior humanity.

Fighting terrorism around the world is not the resonsibility of just the US and England; it belongs to the world community. When we fail to listen to the world community and preemptively attack another country without their support, the war is already lost.

Is There a Stronger Word Than "Hypocrisy"?

By WILLIAM BLUM

There are times when I think that this tired old world has gone on a few years too long. What's happening in the Middle East is so depressing. Most discussions of the eternal Israel-Palestine conflict are variations on the child's eternal defense for misbehavior -- "He started it!" Within a few minutes of discussing/arguing the latest manifestation of the conflict the participants are back to 1967, then 1948, then biblical times. I don't wish to get entangled in who started the current mess. I would like instead to first express what I see as two essential underlying facts of life which remain from one conflict to the next:

1. Israel's existence is not at stake and hasn't been so for decades, if it ever was. If Israel would learn to deal with its neighbors in a non-expansionist, non-military, humane, and respectful manner, engage in full prisoner exchanges, and sincerely strive for a viable two-state solution, even those who are opposed to the idea of a state based on a particular religion could accept the state of Israel, and the question of its right to exist would scarcely arise in people's minds. But as it is, Israel still uses the issue as a justification for its behavior, as Jews all over the world use the Holocaust and conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

2. In a conflict between a thousand-pound gorilla and a mouse, it's the gorilla which has to make concessions in order for the two sides to progress to the next level. What can the Palestinians offer in the way of concession? Israel would reply to that question: "No violent attacks of any kind." But that would still leave the status quo ante bellum -- a life of unmitigated misery for the Palestinian people
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum07262006.html

blueflame, Good article. Most people still don't know how Jews treat the Palestinians, and how the US continues to support the aparthied of Israel with money and weapons.

The hypocrisy is so open and evident with our supposed goal to bring "democracy" to the Middle East while supporting a aparthied state in the MIddle East. How can people sleep at night or their stomach from churning from what is happening to all those innocent Arabs/Muslims?

Exactly. Such depressing, childish, primitive, self-serving excuses for blatant aggression. And as if this sort of response could resolve anything? As if resolution is the real motive? It just ensures that the conflict will go on & on & on & on ..... <sigh>