Talkbacks Elections not good news for PA | page 3

From an Israeli perspective, you are right. Iraq was a threat. NOT an al-Qaeda threat, but a threat to Israel. The Arab World and Israel are basically at war despite some peace accords that most Arab sfeel are eithe rincomplete or half-hearted. But, from an American perspective, Iraq was not a threat to the U.S. Some 3,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq and more and more Americans are asking why? Aside from the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq was a non-issue except to Bush. Bush was no big supporter of Israel and never ran on that. He paid the usual lip-service to the issue, but he basically walked away from Clinton's hands-on approach because the American Evangelical movement has two priorities -- Israel when they need to whip up the believers and prepare for the "rapture" (which is when they go to heaven and people like you and me "burn" in hell :) ... and, to turn American Christians inward to the hardcore Christian ethics that go beyond family values and into control of the schools, government and more with religious philosophies. I think we could have dealt with Iraq the way we were: corralling him, isolating him and maybe even undermining him through counter insurgency support. Meanwhile,t he real terrorist (who fundamentally is way above the Arab-Israeli conflict) is Osama Bin Laden and he is on the loose. We've given Bin Laden a lot of support by turning Iraq into a war zone and that, long turn, in my opinion, exposes not just Israel but Palestinians and Arabs who aspite to a secular Middle East with a Palestinian State. I see the secular Palestine option evaporating and turning into an endless Islamic-Israel religious battle and I don't believe Israel can win that battle in the long run. Just my thoughts. Ray Hanania www.hanania.com