[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] well I haven't uh you know when the war was on I watched um CNN and um Nightline
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] pretty regularly and read the paper and all but when uh lately like the last week or two I guess with Easter and spring break with the kids I um I hadn't been thinking much about the Middle East and what's going on over there have you been keeping up
[speaker001:] uh well uh just really the last couple of days since this uh the UN debate or whatever you want to call it that uh voted on whether there was going to be a cease fire I guess you know the thing really isn't over they uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] they had uh kind of uh I don't know if you call it stand down or whatever but anyway they stopped and wait to see if Iraq would accept a permanent cease fire situation though as I understand it from the Iraqi point of view this current cease fire thing that the UN uh had set up you know the Iraqis are probably not going to go for at all unless they're just absolutely forced to
[speaker002:] uh hum
[speaker001:] so I guess from what I understand the thing could just they could take off at any moment without uh
[speaker002:] start it
[speaker001:] you know any uh-huh you know any local um you know congressional effort or anything else because you know it's not really settled yet
[speaker002:] there's no official document signed or anything
[speaker001:] not yet not yet at all
[speaker002:] well I um when the when the crisis began last August I began to think well I I um couldn't remember things that I had studied in the past in school and all so I got out like my encyclopedias and tried to read about the history and it was really what I felt was kind of cynical because it there just hasn't been any peace over there
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] ever in thousands of years of history
[speaker001:] no yeah I don't know why they expect it's going to start this week you know
[speaker002:] yeah that's right and it just it's just not people they and it's not uh you know there isn't any real Arab coalition because they do fight among themselves
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and they fight with each other and they have such hatred for Israel and
[speaker001:] yeah the uh the thing that's kind of interesting uh about this my sons in the Air Force
[speaker002:] oh yes
[speaker001:] and uh he came within about a quarter of an inch of going uh to Saudi he ended up in Korea instead and because of the way they split a transportation group out in Lubbock
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] so he ended up going to Korea but his buddies ended up going to Saudi well he's still in Korea and his buddies are home now he he almost wishes that that he could have gone home
[speaker002:] oh no he and got it over with well I just there's just no way for us to be involved over there and hope that there will be much peace
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] and um with and that I'm afraid that we would have to stay
[speaker001:] yeah the thing uh the other thing too when this all started if you you know if you did much reading on the thing you know Kuwait the country of Kuwait was just you know somebody's uh you go back to World War I when the uh Ottoman empire broke up and the British and the French and the English yeah the British and the French mostly
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] decided to carve up that part of the world and call part of it Persia and part of it uh Iraq and part of it something else you know and they they split things along um
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] geographical lines but they didn't take any kind of consideration into uh social or cultural things at all so the country of uh of Kuwait really doesn't make just a whole lot of sense
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] except that it is an accepted place you know it's like any other country you know for whatever reason it's
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] it's actually there well Iraq has had uh designs on that place since nineteen twenty two so you know it wasn't like something that just suddenly popped up
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] and it's just that this was an excuse you know to make some noise now something that I read in the paper the other day that I thought was kind of interesting was that the Arab uh uh their version or vision or whatever the United States now is somewhat changed in that we won you know now now we are a uh a legitimate player in the game over there you know the
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] we I don't think we can really understand their attitude because their culture's just so much different
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] uh we are now a legitimate player in the in the in the game because we came in with a certain amount of force and we you know we defeated you know Iran couldn't do it in seven years and we went in and did in in seven days what Iran couldn't do in seven years you know so
[speaker002:] right right
[speaker001:] that kind of ups our stock in there just a little bit it makes us more legitimate so now what they're saying is that well since we won whatever we say goes because it's a kind of a might makes right attitude about it and you know we've got the power
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah which is why for centuries you know hundreds of years the British and the French had so much influence in there because they'd go in and they'd win something
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and then and then they could call the shots for the next you know period of time until the next strong man came up and you know and
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and caused problems so
[speaker002:] well I just uh I'm not interested in keeping big military over there and having to go in and call the shots like you say and and I just would prefer that I mean sometimes we've said let's keep we
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] we're not interested in what other countries do and then other times we jump in and do things and while I'm really glad that they
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh I it was important demilitarize demilitarize that area because of all the build up armaments
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I don't hope I'd I hope we don't try to keep uh in there and try to keep our fingers in the pot and try to
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] stay over there because we just don't want to send our people there and make them stay
[speaker001:] yeah that's that's the uh that's that's the big thing you know we still got a little bit of the old you know Vietnam um problem in you know in the back of our minds we we got this we're we're used to wars where you can get in do the job and get out
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] Vietnam we never did get out you know never did get the job done because they were too ham strung
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh this thing they they gave the guys uh the power and the material and the told them to go do it and they did it you know got in and got out I'm not sure the the big fuss that we're going to see now for the next few weeks I would think
[speaker002:] yeah and
[speaker001:] is uh you know the uh the business with the uh the Shiites of all people you know in the southern part of the country and also the Kurds because these people evidently are you know being killed off by the thousands
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and whether the the United Nations I don't think the US will do it on their own but whether the United Nations comes around and says hey wait a minute we know this thing isn't uh all that much over we've got to go back in there and and be sure tha t this large population isn't just wiped out which is seems to be exactly what's happening right at the moment
[speaker002:] uh-huh I noticed that
[speaker001:] but uh you know
[speaker002:] well I don't think there's much hope for a lasting peace over there like they
[speaker001:] oh well no no there there never will be I mean uh uh the only way that you're going to have peace over there if if we determine that we want to go in and wipe out every last one of them
[speaker002:] yeah history
[speaker001:] you know until we make a decision to do that there won't be peace but I don't think we want to make that decision either
[speaker002:] uh-huh no
[speaker001:] so that's that's a little rough you know we're not we're not quite up to that sort of thing
[speaker002:] no
[speaker001:] so
[speaker002:] well I guess I better go I have a repairman just came for my refrigerator
[speaker001:] oh oh well that's fun
[speaker002:] but yes well I enjoyed the topic I hope you have have a good day okay bye-bye
[speaker001:] you too bye bye