Reply #65: DixieDem, it is a pleasure to meet you.

[Colorado Blue]

You are one of the few people I've met who is honestly interested in this topic, and if I can help please let me know.

I agree, also, that bias about the ME is common. US foreign policy has been colored by ignorance. A stunning example: the firing of Arabic speakers, because they were gay AND/OR Jewish. And how many Americans have any clue about the Middle Eastern culture, music, or history?

Having said that, we Americans can't take all the blame for the mess. When the British Empire took down the Ottoman Empire after WWI, the British and the French carved it up willy-nilly. The modern nation-states haven't got much to do with tribal, ethnic or religious sensitivities. Iraq, for example, is an attempt to force Sunni, Shi'a and Kurds to live together. Traditionally, these groups have been enemies from time to time. Perhaps, each should have a home, a state like we have states? It's obvious, none feels safe. In Iran, they've been going through an election process, in which the candidates have been presenting moderate platforms, but the violence has been stunning, terrible.

Also, throughout the Middle East there are many other minorities who get little or no representation at all: Turkmen, Jews outside of Israel - only about 8,000 now, plus Christians, Druze, nomadic people, Ba'hai, Assyrians, Armenians, Zoroastrians - most of these represent very ancient cultures.

And, up until recently, the Soviet Union was playing a greater role in causing trouble there than most people realize. The people in the Middle East have been stuck in proxy wars fought by the Great Powers, and they're ALL victims.

The transition from medieval to modern culture has been rough, fast and brutal. Going from horseback to 747 has been a shock for all of us - we only started flying in 1903! People forget that, the changes during the 20th century were incredible and unprecedented.

We do have a chance now to make things better. I hope, I pray this can happen. I think it will be, one person talking to one person, a day at a time, like weaving a rug.

I am praying for the day when people will reach out to one another, and the sun will fall on green fields.