So let me get this straight

[n2mark]

OBL is angry at the US because we support Isreal? So the more we support Isreal, the more OBL is against us? Did Reagan start this mess? or Jimmy Carter?

Need a history lesson here. So Kerry who supports Isreal is not going to make a difference?

[Eric J in MN]

1. The US has supported Israel since its founding in 1948,

and we shouldn't let UBL change that.

[kokomo]

3. As long as we support genocide, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the

world including its 1.5 billion Muslims will hate us. We have paid a huge price in American lives by our blind support of the Zionists.

[katinmn]

6. Our Middle East policy has been horrible!

We've been supporting Israel *exclusively* since 1948, to the detriment of the Palestinians. That's a core issue that can't be ignored. Even when OBL is dead that won't go away.

[TwilightZone]

2. OBL was particularly upset that we had troops in Saudi Arabia.

Though, since they've been mostly removed, Osama seems to be focusing on his secondary reasons for 9/11.

[JohnnyRingo]

4. GW speaks only to Ariel Sharon...He refuses to recognize Arafat...

...as a legitimate Palistinian leader.
His "Roadmap to Peace" was a 4 lane freeway moving in one direction only.
Needless to say, It failed miserably.

Regardless how one feels about the Gaza Strip situation, It's safe to say that JK will take a more diplomatic approach to the crisis than "The Great Uniter".

We certainly have nothing to lose.

[gardenista]

5. He seems to refer to Reagan when he talks about the 80's and Lebanon.

Please refresh me, anyone, if you have a clear memory of that time.

What might he mean by the towers of Lebanon, and was he possibly responsible for the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut?

(Which was of course decisively answered by Reagan, in the typical Republican style. He invaded Grenada.)

[RoyGBiv]

8. Long Story Short

Lebanon was a case of the US government firmly and openly planting itself in a Middle Eastern territory and openly taking sides in opposition to a Muslim interest.

Subsequently, after the bombing of the US barracks, the US "retreated" yet intensified its rhetoric and began more overt attempts at undermining Muslim regimes, an action which is by many analysts from all across the political spectrum "credited" with both empowering and angering people like OBL, if not him specifically.

OBL, et al like to invoke the memory of Lebanon because it is their version of David and Goliath. They see it as standing up against the big, powerful evil and winning, and they want to remind us all of that.

[gardenista]

9. Thanks! But do you think OBL was involved in the bombing of the

Marine barracks?

[RoyGBiv]

11. Nope ...

I can't remember the details, but he wasn't radicalized at the time, at least not to the point of hating the US. Bush I's war, or more specifically the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia to facilitate it, is what really got him going.

Interestingly, he would not be the force he is if Reagan hadn't supported him financially/militarily all those years while he helped fight the Soviets.

[gardenista]

12. Very enlightening. Thank you so much.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Try Truman ...

And it's not as simple a question as some will want to make it sound.

In summary, at this point, no "victory" scenario exists with this problem. OBL's "demands" should be ignored.

[TaleWgnDg]

10. OBL is one very sick dude . . .

who is reaching for any damn issue in his personal fantasyland quest of self-aggrandizement. What, you haven't noticed?

Since when should you expect rational behavior or thoughts from such a sick-o?

A history lesson? FDR died in 1945 during his 3d presidential term, and Truman the VEEP took over as president. Unfortunately, FDR (during his lifetime) never included Truman in the loop of information to keep Truman geared to take-over as president despite FDR's dire illness during his 3d term. Truman was a fast learner. And won the 1948 election over Governor Dewey (R, NY).

As for Israel, the U.N. voted to grant Israel statehood in 1948. There was no "negativism." There was no U.S. president to fault as you suggest. The entire world was empathic to the plight of Jews due to Hitler's Holocaust and non-statehood status of surviving Jews. Thus, the modern formation of the land of Israel.

Kerry will support Israel. Kerry will support the statehood of a sovereign land for the Palestinians. However, Kerry will instigate and prod the parties to the bargaining table as did Clinton and Carter before him.


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