okay uh
 		yeah Middle East and
 	
 	
 		yeah uh well you know it's really ironic because it's just about a year ago today we were involved you know actively in that war that was going on at this time and uh
 	
 	
 		yeah i guess last week was the uh anniversary of everything but uh
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		yeah yeah uh-huh
 	
 	
 		that's that's one of those  messed up areas i mean it's just
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		i i i think that the whole operation you know the idea of peace ever being achieved over there is just kind of a
 		i don't know i mean that we're going to have peace you can have maybe some little more stability that what they have right now but
 	
 	
 		um
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		it's just that's pure hatred between the Israelis and the uh Arabs i mean it's just
 		i just don't think they can coexist i mean because they're not ever going to you know
 		it's just too many problems that
 	
 	
 		yeah well it it it certainly is not a an easy situation to deal with but uh i uh i i remember last year when the war was going on that i actually was uh if one can be
 		in any way relieved when a war is going on but at least Israel listened to the uh admonitions of the United States about not retaliating uh when those missiles were dropped on them
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		and amazingly we we had those weapons that would counteract those missiles so that they would do a minimal of damage uh the whole thing was very amazing to me i don't think any any of it is right i mean we should be doing any of that stuff
 		oh it's such an misuse of what we are as people but under the circumstances i could not help thinking that probably uh you know five or ten years ago i don't i don't even think that same kind of uh
 		respect uh sufficiently for the United States would have been there that Israel wouldn't have just gone ahead you know uh like that uh
 		Arafat and the and the the P L O and everything would just you know be so rambunctious as to just
 		to retaliate and even even cause worse damage i oh it was a very terrible thing but uh it's uh
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		yeah i'm i'm amazed uh Israel didn't even uh
 	
 	
 		uh-huh they did
 	
 	
 		retaliate that that that's one of the most surprising things
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah well i guess you know so long as our uh missile systems were holding out to counteract what was being thrown in and things seemed to be working i guess it's
 	
 	
 		i'm uh but
 	
 	
 		it's really worth trying for peace or at least coexistence like you said uh and they have actually gone to peace talks uh since the time of that war to try to
 		hit some kind of a a common ground for coexistence uh
 	
 	
 		yeah in fact Baker was uh
 		a speech yesterday trying to get them back they're supposed to be going back to tables pretty soon the next week or two i guess but
 	
 	
 		yeah uh-huh
 	
 	
 		uh they'll you know they'll work out some type of an agreement and something will pop up in about five years and
 	
 	
 		oh sure
 	
 	
 		the fact that we never got uh Hussein out hopefully that will fall apart on its own in the next year or so but
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		i mean if he ever gets any type of military power back i mean for that area that's just going to be same situation again and
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		i don't know Bush
 	
 	
 		um
 	
 	
 		i just think should have gone in and just take take him out that would have that was a major problem
 	
 	
 		yeah well it amazes me that the guy is still there yeah yeah is not around
 	
 	
 		just him being just
 		he's powerless but still the fact that he's still in power it's over there that's a symbol of
 	
 	
 		very strange uh-huh
 	
 	
 		he stood up to the evil force of the western world and i mean that's just completely different mode of thinking and
 	
 	
 		you know
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		to them what they view view as reality is just simply opposite of what we view but
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		um
 	
 	
 		so i it's
 		i just i don't know the only thing that keeps us there is the oil and i guess the only good thing that came out of it is we would be paying twice as much more now for gas but
 	
 	
 		oh well that's hopefully not the essential issue to mankind but uh
 	
 	
 		i mean
 		well it is for the money makers out there i guess but
 	
 	
 		yeah uh-huh
 	
 	
 		i don't know it's it's kind of hard for me to really
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		imagine i mean i've never even been over in that part of the world i had a friend of mine that got back and
 	
 	
 		oh really yeah
 	
 	
 		he's sort of there and he's just said that he just really he couldn't stand the the
 		uh Saudis at all because he said they just didn't have any respect for them at all just
 	
 	
 		mentality like
 		oh really
 	
 	
 		yeah they didn't
 		he just really had a hard time you know
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		i look at it as a he looked at it as a job he wasn't like
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		because he didn't like the people and no one did he said they just didn't they didn't want them over there the people they didn't like them and
 	
 	
 		um
 	
 	
 		you know they had all these rules you couldn't bring any type of religious artifacts in or
 	
 	
 		oh that's right that's right
 	
 	
 		any type of alcohol anything like that he's just
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		oh that that's in Arabia
 	
 	
 		and they they have like this they look down at the soldiers the American soldiers and he said it's just
 	
 	
 		um
 	
 	
 		you have a hard time you know fighting for their cause
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		and to me to it's i don't know it's just it's just totally backward everything you know black is white and
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		white is black to them i mean that doesn't make sense but
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		well it makes you wonder how how