I'm wondering what's going to happen to scantily clad females in BMW's and girls wearing tube tops with the Hezbollah logo when the fundamentalist Islamic leaders take over and inflect thier fashion sense on these young women...

You can't be this narrow minded, sir. How long are you Americans going to keep on lying to yourselves and just be so fucking ignorant about the Middle East and the Arab world?

You guys have your heads so far up your asses you don't know what the hell is going on and you know it. You know hwo wrong all your assumptions have been about the Middle East.

So all you and your freaking media and Congress do is painstakingly pick out any and all instances of religious fervor coming from the ME just so you can create this nefarious world Americans must fight against at all costs.

Ignored is the every day life of just about everyone over there, with no useful propaganda to be derived from them.

Even in Saudi Arabia where the most extreme form of Islam is practiced in the Arab world, (but somehow it's one of the best allies of the US in the area. WTF!!!), even there women have found a way to have a balance of power with the men and make their presence felt.

You guys are going nowhere, no fucking where, if you keep analyzing the ME from the same perpective you developed back in the 1800's.

You got to get real here. You can't be this simplistic when viewing over 300 million people going about their business in the ME. That's a lot of people to have to deal with and a lot of give and take everyone has to do.

Islamists are just a part of this, they ain't the whole picture by far. And even they are coming around to be more inclusive and sensitive to others.

Why don't you gather some money and go there to see for yourself. Just throw yourself in the middle of Syria, or Tunisia, or even the Gulf States. You might be surprised to find signs of life in that part of the world.

Thank you so much for taking the time to “enlighten” us Americans. Of course, we’re all ignorant, all 280 million of us, including the 3 million or so American muslims who live here, the Christians, the Jews, the atheists, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Chinese-Americans, the many Americans of Iranian descent, the Afghans . . . I could go on and on. But of course, you’re so right that we’re ignorant. Because the worst thing you can do, as you so rightly point out, is to “be this simplistic when viewing over 300 million people.”

It’s not to say that there aren’t some ignorant, misguided, hateful people here in the U.S., but do you honestly think that Saudi Arabia or any other place is any better? Are the Saudis more tolerant of different religions than Americans? Do they have a better human rights record? Is it not actually true that Saudi women can’t drive cars or testify in court? And by the way, honestly, what would happen to scantily clad women in public in Saudi Arabia or Iran? I have no idea! Maybe you can inform us ignorant Americans about that too.

I’ll be the first to admit that the U.S. under the Bush administration has behaved atrociously. But that doesn’t make us fair game for stereotyping and prejudice any more than people in Lebanon or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. The fact that 3 million muslims, 4 million jews and everybody else can live together here in relative peace and harmony should be one thing about this country that Middle Easterners should not sneer at, but instead try to emulate.

Where did I say the Middle East, any part of it, is better than the US???

No need to get defensive here. All I'm doing is criticizing how many Americans expect the very worst of democratic political parties such as Hezbollah just because they emphazinse the use of Islam in their politics.

Just like all that noise that was made against the Islamist party in Turkey and what a catastrophe it'd be if they won the elections. Well, they won the freaking elections despite all the scare mongering of the other Turkish political parties along with their worldwide allies. You know, like those motherf'rs Iraqis did to get the US to invaded their country.

See how easily you guys are to scare? Listen, I don't care how ignorant you're of the world but if you're gonna use your freaking tax money to invade and destroy other countries the least you can do is learn about those countries before you keep farting from your mouth.

If Americans expect the worst of Hezbollah, perhaps it's not because they're Islamist, but because they're a fraud. They're a tool of foreign influence in Lebanon. If they were truly interested in the well-being of Lebanon, then why don't they join forces with the Lebanese government and give up their arms, or become part of the regular Lebanese military? Most of Lebanon doesn't want to live as a puppet state of either the U.S. or Iran or Syria. So what is Hezbollah trying to accomplish with their guns, missiles and grenade launchers? Hezbollah threatens not only Israel, but the democratically elected government of Lebanon. Who appointed them to try to impose a theocracy on Lebanon, declare death to Israel or carry out their own foreign policy? Oh that's right: Iran.

As I may have said, I never supported the stupid decision to invade Iraq, and I think that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al, are liars and fools. We as American citizens bear a healthy portion of the blame for the disgrace that this administration has brought on us. But I don't see the U.S. having wronged or interfered in a harmful way in Lebanon, whereas I think that Syria and Iran, and by proxy, Hezbollah, have treated Lebanon like a pawn. Just because someone doesn't trust the good intentions or the wisdom of Bush and Cheney doesn't necessarily call for putting blind faith in the good intentions of Nasrallah and his organization either.

And look, I'm sure there's plenty of ill-will and ignorance to go around on all sides here. I can accept fair criticism for U.S. policies, especially since I spend so much of my time here doing just that myself. But it's bothersome when the criticism comes with what seems to be a cynical and prejudiced view of Americans in general. If people want to encourage the best side of the U.S. and try to find ways to work together with Americans in a positive way, then they too have to be willing to not always assume the worst.

If you don't want people to assume the worst of Americans then why assume the worst of others?

Palestinians have been under occupation for over 40 years, and why? Because Israel and the US assume the worst of them. So much so that Palestinians are asked to prove to the US and Israel they deserve the same rights everyone else in the world are born with! And if they "fail" then more land is taken.

How freaking convenient, eh?

And the US has a lot to do with what's going on in Lebanon. Ronald Reagan gave the green light to Israel to invade Lebanon with an army equipped with 90% American made and supplied weapons.

It was right after this invasion that Hezbollah was created. And they fought to kick Israel out for 18 years. What's so "radical" about that, huh? What's so "extremist" about Syria and fellow Muslims providing support to Hezbollah to help them kick Israeli ass?

It's amazing how many Americans will parrot the irrational US stance in the Middle East verbatim as if it was God's given truth without a thought about what they're saying.

Besides, I wasn't assuming the worst of Americans. Again, all I'm saying is that there's this horrible narrative going on in the American media and government about how you just can't trust, can't talk, can't negotiate, can't shake hands and all that nonsense, with "terrorists" and their "sponsors".

And how they have this aweful plan they want to implement in the ME... I mean, it's maddening to hear it over and over again regardless of what the facts are, or what anyone says or does, or what motivates people to do the things they do.

That's it. You've made up your minds about all these bad folks and there's no turning around. And when you see with your own eyes how Lebanese Christian girls wearing shorts and tank tops go to the Shiite neighborhoods to say "thank you" to Nasrallah you're like, "Oh, boy! If only these girls knew what Hezbollah has in store for them."

What freaking BS. Look at who won the last elections in the Lebanese Christian sector carried out a few weeks ago: A pro-Syrian Lebanese Christian.

My advice to you is to stop for once listening to what your government and Israel's propaganda machine are telling you and listen to the people involved in the conflict.

And stop looking for the perfect victims, for crying out loud. You know, those victims that you see in American movies where they're so innocent, so pure, they would never do to their victimizers what they did to them. They are so virtous they are simply incapable of harming anyone. And if they do harm anyone they do it with such precision as to spare the civilians on the other side.

The US needs to be a man and deal with everyone instead of playing favourites like a father in a dysfunctional family.

“It was right after this invasion that Hezbollah was created. And they fought to kick Israel out for 18 years. What's so "radical" about that, huh? What's so "extremist" about Syria and fellow Muslims providing support to Hezbollah to help them kick Israeli ass?”

-- PhilistineTheArtLover

Of course there’s been an almost constant struggle between Israelis and Palestinians since the inception of Israel. The Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon was a response to hostility coming from Palestinians living in Southern Lebanon. I can’t say whether the Israeli response was proportional to the Palestinian attacks, or whether it was ultimately even beneficial for Israel to have undertaken this occupation. But we can say, to be fair, that the hostility has always gone both ways. If you want to unquestioningly take the side of the Palestinians, then I guess you can claim that Palestinians always have the right to attack and kill Israelis by whatever means they choose so long as Israel exists. Because the fundamental position of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and most of the Palestinians is that Israel has no right to exist.

But even if one accepts the premise that Palestinians should always be free to attack Israel, then can one really blame Israel for fighting back? What else are they supposed to do? Of course, there is a moral burden that the Israelis have failed to fulfill, like returning all of the occupied territory that they’ve built their settlements on, making every honest effort to reach a two-state solution and being more fair in their treatment of Palestinians. But don’t we all know that there is nothing that Israel could do, other than ceasing to exist, that would satisfy the most hard core elements of Hamas and Hezbollah? So the bottom line is, if Hamas and Hezbollah are willing to launch attacks against Israel, then even if one thinks they have the right to do so, accepting that hostility goes both ways, then they shouldn’t be surprised or “blame” Israel for fighting back. I can’t see why that isn’t a fair proposition.

You can make the claim that because the U.S. provides aid to Israel, that they are partially responsible for everything Israel does. But if it weren’t for military aid from the U.S., Israel may well have been destroyed by its Arab neighbors who launched several full-scale military assaults on it in the years before the Lebanese incidents. Would it have been better for the U.S. to turn its back on Israel and let another holocaust take place? If it’s fair to hold the U.S. to blame for Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, then is it equally fair for Israelis to blame Iran for Hezbollah’s rocket and artillary attacks against them?

Just to know where you’re at, do you accept that Israel has a right to exist? I’m not a zionist myself, so I question the ancient biblical claim on which Israel seems to base their territorial claims. But the state of Israel is a fait accompli. And the trouble with the Palestinians has been, to be fair, a two-sided affair. The neighboring Arab states took their fair shots at destroying Israel and failed. So Israel is still with us. I think that the rest of the Middle East should shut up and deal with that reality. If Ahmedinejad, Hezbollah and Hamas want to bray on and on about destroying Israel, then I certainly won’t blame Israel for fighting back. Remember, it’s not Israel who’s denying their right to exist. If their neighbors really want to stop the conflict, then it’s imperative for them to recognize Israel the way that Egypt and Jordan have done. Until then, they bare at least an equal share of the blame for any further violence, occupation or misery.

And come on, "Be a Man?" This is the same kind of stupid macho rhetoric that we've come to expect from George Bush and his cronies. I think "Be Fair" is advice that all sides of this issue should heed.