President Obama is intelligent, thoughtful and engaged. He is not a warmongering moron.

[Douglas Carpenter]

32. frankly if there is a major outside instigator it is the Saudis - Israel may very well support an

attack on Syria - but I'm sure they are not completely enthusiastic about it under the current circumstances anyway. IN spite of all their mutually hostility - Syria under Assad and Israel had a certain degree of predictability in their relationship. Even during the Lebanon civil war there were times when Israel and Syria were for all practical purposes - although they both would have denied it - on the same side fighting the same enemies. I am a very strong critic of the state of Israel. I am not one of those who will say, "Oh, I actually love Israel and think it was great that it was established in 1948." In fact I morn the establishment of the State of Israel and I don't believe it is a positive influence in the region or capable of becoming a positive influence in the region. However, just because someone is the enemy does not mean that they are the cause of all evil in the world. There was plenty of evil in the Middle East and in the world long before the State of Israel and there is plenty of evil in the Middle East and in the world apart from the state of Israel.