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Mideast Scandal: Could this be WWIII?

I think the fighting in Lebanon and Isreal might be the beginning of WWIII. Along with the North Korea and Iran drama. I felt just a little dramatic until I heard Newt Gingrich say exactly the same thing on "Meet the Press" this morning.

Israel is about to find out how bad-ass Hezbollah is. The same way America found out how bad-ass the Vietnamese were. This is going to get really bad. We have allowed Israel to oppress these people and we have sent millions and millions to Israel. The blood will be on our hands without a doubt. Hezbollah does not have the fancy highly destructive American military products but they have hundreds of thousands that will never stop fighting- the same way the Vietnamese never stopped fighting the Chinese, French and Americans. We killed over 3 million Vietnamese and they never stopped. Israel will never win this war, America will never take Iraq. The only hope of calming this will come when the leaders stop retaliating and try to negotiate a compromise.

There is no winner take all scenario. That is a saturday morning western like myth that never really happens in reality. But it will take Israel losing many lives and killing many Palestinians. Israel will believe they can overpower Hezbollah and stamp them out. But history tells us a different ending. What really scares me are the people who want this to elevate into the Apocalypse so their Jesus will return and bring the faithful to heaven. These people really are mentally ill.

-Doug, NH

I've been reading about the potential war in the Mideast a couple of the articles I've read say that Iran is actually behind the whole thing, that their government is funding and supporting all the religious extremists in the middle east. Except for the religious extremists in Israel, who, as you point out, are being funded by the U.S. And, of course, having the U.S. anywhere near there, say as an occupier in Iraq, just lends credence to the notion that the U.S. is the great satan opposed to all that Muslims hold holy. But you may be right on this because the propaganda is definitely pointing the finger at Iran. And I haven't read any one article that "explains it all".

But, yes, it's extremely scary to have somebody like George Bush as president at a time like this. He literally believes the whole Armageddon story so even if the U.S. could negotiate a peace, one has to wonder if he sees it as a futile exercise, believing that the inevitability of the final conflict in the middle east is part of Jesus' return. God help us.

But Israel is just as scary as any Muslim fundamentalist. An eye for an eye isn't good enough for them...they want your eye, your other eye, your nose, your ears and any other body parts in exchange for any offense against their sovereignty. A lot of people think that Israelis support that stuff across the board, but they don't. There's a lot of Israelis, just as there are a lot of American Jews, who do not feel that having suffered the Holocaust gives them the right to impose a new holocaust on others. Unfortunately, the Israelis keep electing governments that feel that way, so not much happens with meaningful peace efforts. I think we in the U.S. can certainly sympathize with the pro-peace Israelis.

Yes, I'm worried too about this turning into a major World War. But the middle east has been on the brink many times before and somehow things get pulled back and returned to the usual simmer instead of the boilover point we're near right now. Let's hope that's the case again.

Where's Bill Clinton when you need him?

-LiveReal Staff Writer