well we in our country seems to be involved a lot in the Mid East what do you what do you think
 	
 	
 		
 
 		well yeah i uh
 		and i'm i'm sure there's things going on that that uh we don't know about but but uh it
 		a year a year ago now when the the war Desert Storm was finishing up seems like things were uh
 		going to settle down and nothing seems to of seems to have settled down after all
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		it that that happens a lot doesn't it
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		wars don't usually settle things  much
 	
 	
 		yeah right
 	
 	
 		um um and i i guess i i feel like we
 		we keep getting into places without really understanding what we're doing
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		uh which really i find upsetting because it seems like we've got experts
 		and we've got people who understand these cultures but i always wonder if they're really used because it seems like then afterwards we have people explaining to us how if they'd only known such and such
 		we wouldn't have done this you know
 	
 	
 		yeah and and i i think there's a
 	
 	
 		and would
 	
 	
 		yeah i i i i have very much doubt that
 		that there's a real understanding at the top levels of of the of the cultures and of what's going on
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		in terms of and and it seems to me that our policy basically seems to be uh the enemy of my enemy is my friend
 	
 	
 		yes
 	
 	
 		and that that
 		Saddam Hussein was uh was our buddy buddy as long as he was against Iran
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and uh Iran was our bigger enemy and then  when it turns out that uh Saddam Hussein
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		but Iran of course used to be our friend
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		i mean we can't it's a little hard to keep it straight isn't it
 	
 	
 		and
 		right oh yes yes and when we decided Saddam Hussein was our enemy then the uh uh
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		oh what's his name in uh Syria uh
 	
 	
 		yeah um
 	
 	
 		uh Hafaia Susaad i believe uh is suddenly our friend even though he was he was on our our leading terrorist yeah our leading terrorist list so uh
 	
 	
 		right
 		on hit our really bad list
 	
 	
 		you know and
 	
 	
 		and i i i keep reading about Jordan's King Hussein and i just feel so sorry for him sort of in the middle of all of this trying to keep some sort of sanity living vulnerable right where he is
 	
 	
 		right
 		right right and and uh
 		i think we're trying to we're trying to extricate ourselves somewhat from being
 		so definitely tied to to the Israeli side in terms of all of that Israeli versus Arab
 	
 	
 		right yes yes right
 		right
 	
 	
 		and uh
 		i haven't seen uh solid evidence yet that we're doing a really good job of that  yeah yeah so
 	
 	
 		of doing that either no  no i i i i just get a sense of our
 		walking in over and over and over again in places where we weren't well versed or something
 	
 	
 		right
 		right
 	
 	
 		didn't didn't know what we were doing so i mean it just feels unprepared or
 	
 	
 		right and
 	
 	
 		something and and if we could it's not wise that i guess i'm still looking for a statesman
 	
 	
 		yes
 	
 	
 		you know someone who really the the the kind of stories you hear about or you look back in history these people really understood what they're doing and did this wise thing every once in a while
 		and i just keep thinking i know there with all the resources we have there must be people who could have explained some of this and said if you do this subtle thing understanding their culture et cetera et cetera it'll have this effect but
 	
 	
 		yeah well it it
 		from what yeah from what little i heard in terms the the the most understanding
 		to get really cynical about it the most understanding uh
 		i uh felt that was displayed in terms of of uh Iraq in particular
 		was that it seemed to me that George Bush was was trying to play the peacemaker in such a way that
 		that he was guaranteeing that given their culture that Saddam Hussein could not back down and would not could not do anything but go to war
 	
 	
 		oh absolutely yes
 	
 	
 		and that uh
 	
 	
 		i mean which which was uh in the line of business that i'm in which is mediation
 	
 	
 		uh oh boy
 	
 	
 		every absolutely everything he did i mean i was in the classrooms teaching children about how to do negotiating and mediating and every single thing we did was against every principle i was teaching it was like
 		um
 	
 	
 		oh that must have been that yes that must have been really fascinating fascinating watching
 	
 	
 		yes
 		it was emotionally quite difficult uh to say the least because it's sort of like
 	
 	
 		yes
 	
 	
 		golly gee this is a set up for absolutely the worst chance
 		possible what are what are we doing here you back someone in the corner is it too surprising if they come out fighting
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		right
 	
 	
 		i mean uh ah didn't you ever see that with children i mean don't
 	
 	
 		right
 		yes
 		yes
 	
 	
 		i i saw did see one of the peace rallies where they just said  i can't remember the exact thing it was
 		something like George and Saddam Saddam go home