[speaker001:] we're supposed to talk about the Middle East crisis and should we be involved and uh what's it going to cost us in the long run
[speaker002:] okay okay
[speaker001:] are you ready
[speaker002:] I guess so
[speaker001:] the Middle East crisis should we be there
[speaker002:] oh dear that's a hard one that's really hard for me because uh you know I really I have a son that's sixteen and I think you know eventually you know he'll be of of drafting age and I think gosh do I want him to go and yet I'm proud to be an American and I know that we have a a country that you know people would give anything to live in a lot of people anyway because we have so many wonderful things that they don't have and yet I don't know whether I'd be willing to give his life for for this country and yet and yet I know that I that and I I when I was in school it was always the tired the tired excuse that we went to war to save us against communism but I'm not sure that that that's the reason anymore I mean not sure that communism is is as strong as it once was and I'm not sure that that that's the reason why we're like we were in Vietnam supposedly so
[speaker001:] well you realize why we were in the Middle East why we invaded Iraq why we were in Saudi why we attacked Kuwait and we we're why we are still fighting Iraq
[speaker002:] well with the well it's because of oil isn't it
[speaker001:] no I really believe it's because I think it has something to do with oil don't get me wrong
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but Saddam is Saddam is a madman
[speaker002:] oh yes I agree with that
[speaker001:] anyone that would use chemical weapons to fight his own people
[speaker002:] oh yeah well yeah he's uh a bad person very definitely yeah
[speaker001:] and obviously that has something to do with it
[speaker002:] oh sure sure
[speaker001:] and and if you know I can see that he was in Kuwait
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] Kuwait was the non aggressor
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] and the Saudis are our allies we have several treaties and several alliances with the Saudis that range back for probably forty years
[speaker002:] yeah many years
[speaker001:] you know they've been our friends through thick and thin
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] they were at the Saudi border
[speaker002:] well um-hum
[speaker001:] and ready to storm into Saudi shouldn't we try and help our friends
[speaker002:] certainly but what at at what cost you know that's the uh the thing it came out it came out wonderfully supposedly I mean everything is and we won
[speaker001:] what did we lose forty one Americans lives
[speaker002:] yeah and that that's wonderful but what if if that wasn't the case what if we would have lost thousands of young men would that would it have been too much of a price to pay for that I don't know see and I think there are a lot of things that we don't know but
[speaker001:] oh of course our government is full of liars thieves and crooks
[speaker002:] the American people oh sure well and there's a lot that we
[speaker001:] and that's our own fault because we elected them
[speaker002:] yeah I think that's true but I think there's a lot that we the public doesn't need to know I think there's some things we shouldn't know just for national national security sake and I you know I think if we did know I think there would be a lot more chaos than there is because I don't I don't think people could handle it so I think there are things that we should not know the masses shouldn't know but I also agree that there are a lot of crooks and liars too
[speaker001:] you know it's uh I went on jury duty here not long back
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and uh one of the guys that was on the jury they were asking him if if you could believe a lawyer or if a lawyer's reputation was so tainted that he couldn't be believed
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and one guy being selected snickered and couldn't keep his head up you know and
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] the guy said well can you share it with us what you what you find so funny he says well I already told you my sons a lawyer he said that when he graduated the day after his bar examine there in Houston
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] he told him dad you know how to tell when a lawyers lying to you his lips are moving
[speaker002:] oh my gosh oh
[speaker001:] and ninety percent of all politicians are lawyers
[speaker002:] oh I have a lawyer background yeah have a law background you're right
[speaker001:] so by definition all lawyers and politicians are liars the fact that they take our money and don't do what we think is right makes them thieves
[speaker002:] yeah that's true yeah that's true
[speaker001:] so what's it going to cost us in the long run there in Saudi are we going to lose more lives there
[speaker002:] see and I don't know I don't know I can't tell the future that's what scares me so much about it I mean I thought the war was going to go on and on I really was surprised when it ended so quickly and
[speaker001:] well we hit them with more in one month than we used in three years the last three years of Vietnam
[speaker002:] I know yeah
[speaker001:] and whenever you strike on open terrain with that sheer volume
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] there's nothing they can do about it
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know it's not like we threw eight aircraft over there all by ourselves and said this is wrong
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] we were there the Brits were there the French were there this is with UN backing
[speaker002:] um right um-hum
[speaker001:] and to some level even Russia was behind us
[speaker002:] um-hum right they were
[speaker001:] so honestly if there is was a well perceived war world wide this was it
[speaker002:] oh sure sure
[speaker001:] but what I can't understand is then many of the Kuwaiti youth didn't fight wouldn't fight
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] it's okay for us to go expend our youth's
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] lives like so much water in the desert
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] and it's not their job to fight for their own land
[speaker002:] yeah that is very it's very strange uh and yet you know see that's another thing that that's difficult for Americans their culture is so much different than ours that you know I've heard from many people that we could not even begin begin to understand how they feel about things because their values and their perceptions are so much different than ours and um they just don't think the same way we do their culture is completely different and almost opposite
[speaker001:] and really from all I can indicate from all indications the Iraqi beliefs if you will are more similar to our own
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah that's true
[speaker001:] and the Kuwaitis aren't even helping rebuild their own country the Kuwaiti young won't rebuild anything they won't work
[speaker002:] huh I didn't realize that
[speaker001:] yeah it was on the news last night
[speaker002:] oh my word
[speaker001:] the uh US Army is doing it all
[speaker002:] hum yeah see and that's another question you have to ask is this our job is are we should we still be there even you know I don't know the answers to that those questions I think they're tough and I think you know it's I don't know that anybody knows the answers I think they know what they believe but I'm not sure they really are one hundred percent sure
[speaker001:] well they talked to uh one Kuwaiti woman yesterday
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and her biggest concern in life was that she couldn't get a housekeeper
[speaker002:] you're kidding that's unreal
[speaker001:] and do you have a housekeeper
[speaker002:] no no and don't plan on having one either ever so
[speaker001:] well I wouldn't mind having one
[speaker002:] oh I'd love to have one but you know
[speaker001:] but you know I'd like to uh make sure that I have a job tomorrow first
[speaker002:] sure sure that's right that's right
[speaker001:] it it astound you realize that the Kuwaiti government gives every Kuwaiti man woman and child money
[speaker002:] uh no I wasn't I didn't wasn't aware of that no
[speaker001:] for nothing
[speaker002:] for doing nothing yeah
[speaker001:] for nothing for for for doing nothing for sitting on there keisters
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] ooh that ought to give their programming trouble shouldn't it
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] they do nothing they hand them money each year and they're part of