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It is said that time heals all wounds, but it's doubtful that applies in Mideast politics. When I first started to work in Saudi Arabia it didn't take long for me to be branded a "Crusader." It matters not that they've been over for almost a thousand years, or that we didn't even exist as a people then. The only things here were small bands of Indians and Mexicans, both primitive societies, but nontheless I was still a crusader. I guess to their minds that's as valid today as then. My first trip to a Riyadh bookstore to buy an atlas produced books where every map of Israel had been blackened out (by hand). I sort of understood why all the pictures of scanty clad women waving from the decks of boats had been blackened out by the same method. You're not to make an opinion of what is good or bad. Some local Imam will make it for you. Our problems with the Islamic world today extend far beyong Israel. For most of the 2,000 years since Christ
died, the Islamics have been calling the shots on the world scene. Our western type societies are johnny come latelys. The
Muslims in the middle east are again flexing their muscles, and I frankly don't believe it matters who the scapegoat is. The US will do as nicely as Israel. The "evil satan" will raise hackles just as much as the "zionists" today. I see no way of living with these people short of an all out war. It's said the two major problems we face are religion and politics. Here we have, not one, but both. Well, that's my take on it for better or worse. Best wishes.
Cal - Montreal
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