Jonathan:

If this is a pop quiz, I'm ready!

Question:
Horror and Chaos in the Middle East: Who's to blame, and is there a remedy?

Answer:
George Bush and yes, with immediate withdrawal of all occupational troops from Iraq AMD Afghanistan, as well as rescinding all illegal, unconstitutional and invasive legislation previously instituted due to fear-mongering by the Bushanistas, which logically will lead to indictments for War Crimes against every member of the Neofascist moovement that led to this quagmire.

Next nude question please!

JLaR, if that really IS your name, how the chëll will that solve problems in the Middle East? Let's be frank: U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will NOT end the civil war there; U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will not result in the Taliban disappearing; domestic surveillance has no impact on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. In fact, as far as I can tell, your prescriptions will only succeed in winding the clock back to pre-9/11 days, with the additional bonus of chaotic violence in Iraq. Could you clarify, or were you merely trying to engage in some rhetorical Bush-bashing without any sapient point?

I can see some sense to immediately ending both occupations. People who are morally and intellectually incapable of ever doing anything just or merciful serve best by doing less. They could have the very finest plans, drawn up by people who actually know things, and still manage to increase misery, enrich cronies, set up future disasters and shit themselves in outrage over criticism.

Dennis does not love Osama bin Laden, he just hates America.

hedgehog you're wiping out 100+ years of ethnic housecleaning and exploitation of non-europeans before the USA could become a working alternative to "balance of power." based on that, some kind of one-state solution will come to pass, in the 22nd century (on the most forgiving timeline). one of the really bad things going on is that the good-paying jobs in israel now are well above working class education, unlike the factory work that developed the urban melting pot here, so the class thing is even bigger than it was here.

SK - The Islamic Republic I was referring to was Iran, and you're right, the rest don't fit the bill.

Also, I am uninformed.

Saurabh, if that is really your name:

Please note that I stated 'alleged civil war' meaning I don't buy into the Neocon propaganda. Once the war criminals who caused this insanity are finally held responsible, their sponser Halliburton will be assigned cleaning up the mess made in Iraq for the sole purpose of increasing that company's profit margin, not to mention paying back the billions of dollars stolen from the reconstruction funds. The war criminals Cheney, BushCo, Rumsfield, et.al., will all be held responsible for the mess they made.

Their estates will be righteously and rightfully confiscated to pay Iraqi families whose lives and property were destroyed just to enrich their bank accounts by their heartless, atavistic greed. America will harken back to the days when the Constitution still existed. This entire unfortunate swindle will be used, henceforth, as an example of how deadly serious it was when we lost all of our freedoms due to fear-mongering conspiracy theories used as propaganda to ensure theit fascist takeover by rescinding all of their immoral, illegal and unconstitutional 'laws'.

BOOH!!! Betcha you're scared! If you fell for their bullshit, then the clean-up will really make your hair stand on end! How much did you make from this nasty business anyway, saurabh?