Far, far be it from me to defend that guy. He even gives alcoholics a bad name!

And, it's hard to watch the slaughter perpetrated by both sides without a powerful feeling of revulsion. The Israelis are no better an army of occupation than anyone else, and in times of "peace" they are as brutal as any other army which has no accountability. That's very brutal.

The more power a people have, the more responsibility. The Israelis have not demonstrated little, if any, responsibility.

The Old Testament is NOT a legal document, NOT a deed, NOT binding. If it were, all us "oyster-eaters" would be in trouble. There is NO guarantee of that land to the Jews.

I try to imagine what would drive me to support suicide bombers. If my neighborhood were occupied, if no other appeal could bring some modicum of justice, I would support it. Suicide bombers are the desperate acts of a desperate people treated without dignity. They are not the first line of protest.

The Palestinians are wrong, no doubt about it. I wish they'd get a bit sophisticated, and not target civilians. (I wish the US hadn't targeted civilians in Kosovo, and Iraq ("collateral" my ass!!), and Afghanistan.)

And yet, when there was "peace", we ignored the Israeli assaults upon their dignity. We called upon Israel to stop building settlements, to no avail. That's all, "Please don't build those." Well, politically the Israelis couldn't stop. They have a religious right-wing, too. The Old Testament, remember, gave Israel the property.

But if suicide bombing isn't the answer, neither is the systematic slaughter perpetrated by an army, in this case the Israeli Army.

I don't think anyone can understand the history of the area and the peoples and condone the actions if either party. This situation could have been predicted in 1947.

One small point. The Clinton "peace settlement" that Arafat is said to have turned down. The Israeli elections were in progress at that time, and Sharon said at that time whatever settlement came out of those talks he would turn down. Arafat only refused a "peace accord" Sharon had already repudiated. It is NOT true that Arafat had the best opportunity for peace ever, and he brought upon the Palestinians what has happened. And remember, the Israelis elected a man who should be in the cell next to Milosevic, a man against whom a prima facie case of mass murder can and has been made. And he's doing it again.

It's gotta stop. Bush's arrogance IS overweaning, especially from such a dunce. In this case, though, his fault is in not demanding the Israelis act a bit better than our cavalry did 150 years ago. The world is supposedly a more civilized place.

Regards,

Arf