[speaker002:] so uh what do you think about our involvement in the Middle East
[speaker001:] well actually I think it's good I I I hope that we uh uh get a chance to uh promote peace out there uh because I think without peace we're not going to get uh stable oil prices and and uh I'd I'd really like to see stability in in that area because I'm always afraid that's where uh another big war is going to start not that Desert Storm was a small one
[speaker002:] yeah well yeah that's probably true I I suspect that if any world war is come at this point in time they're going to come from there uh I would think anyway I mean it just seems to me that that's that's the most unstable part of the world as far as I can tell
[speaker001:] I saw um just recently where uh uh the US is supposedly going to be uh putting pressure on all the you know the Israelis supposedly to to come to a bargaining table to uh actually I heard that the Israelis were even talking at least mentioned about giving up some of the Golan Heights
[speaker002:] really
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] that'd be interesting because I um I actually um um I'm I'm I'm Jewish and I'm actually sort of not not not not not really a Zionist per se you know I'm not
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] but I have a um I have a lot of friends you know who are sort of adamant you know Israel should it's his right and they do whatever they want and I think they've been sort of hard nosed about the entire thing and uh you know in some sense may the moderates may be right they may you know may be it is better if they give up just a little bit just to sort of settle things down
[speaker001:] well uh I guess it's one of those things that uh if it's going to really promote a lasting peace if there is not going to be a peace
[speaker002:] right then then then it then is it worth it at all
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I mean I I because the way I mean sort of the way to think about it is well they won you know they sort of took over the um they're one of the only countries in in in history that has been told that they have to give back what they took in a war which they didn't start basically so
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] so I don't I don't know how to I don't I don't know what to do about it but um but I think that that you know in general the region is really in bad shape
[speaker001:] do you think the US is going to wind up keeping uh military bases over there
[speaker002:] um probably oh isn't isn't there a plan now to make a command center there or something
[speaker001:] I I haven't heard that I I watch CNN every once in a while but I I haven't specifically heard anything about that
[speaker002:] I just heard something about moving recently about moving um there there there's some central command post in Tampa I think they now want to move to somewhere in the Middle East actually there was um a small country or small city I think well you know not actually in Saudi Arabia or or anything but a little bit off to the um east of it I think and I they want to keep something over there so that they don't have to um I guess it's I guess it's so that so they don't have to move troops out so quickly or something I'm not quite sure exactly why they want to do it but they want to keep some sort of central command post there
[speaker001:] what I thought was interesting is that uh apparently the formal cease fire has not actually been signed yet
[speaker002:] that's true yeah
[speaker001:] and uh well I guess there's still the possibility that uh hostilities with uh US troops could still break out
[speaker002:] yeah that they they they claim that's why we're still there I mean you know why only you note it's only only a small number of people have actually come back yet
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but I think that's actually the scariest part because when in the way what what's happening in Iraq right now you know just in itself it it it being so crazy there I have no idea what I mean what do you know just to imagine that one day they're going to turn around and someone's going to say we don't like you and just start attacking again and it's going to be worse I don't know um
[speaker001:] do you have relatives over in Israel
[speaker002:] no I don't I have I I have some friends in Israel and and coincidently actually my wife is Syrian um
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] yeah so I am we are sort of we are the Middle East peace talks at home um and uh pardon me I'm just sort of putting away some things from dinner now in the background but we um we
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] she has sort of friends and family in Saudi Arabia actually well friends in Saudi Arabia and um I have some friends in Israel and we we talk a bit about it but we try and keep it out of out of the home life
[speaker001:] do you uh does does she ever want to go back to Syria
[speaker002:] no she was she's actually um I think it's um for her not not really relevant because she was she's second generation American actually
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] her parents who were born here would like to go see it though I think they would like to go to Syria but but they recognize that Syria's not the place that one wants to visit
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] right about now
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] you know just something about the place makes it not not quite enjoyable
[speaker001:] do you ever want to go over to Israel
[speaker002:] yeah I I'd actually been there um I was there a couple years ago when it wasn't as you know sort of dangerous to be out there I guess
[speaker001:] oh okay yeah
[speaker002:] and I do I do I do like it actually um I would never live there I think I'm too Americanized and um sort of have too much you know too much invested in sort of the the easy life but I do like the food
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] if that if so if that if if that amounts for anything
[speaker001:] okay well who you know do you have uh a lot of Kosher foods there at your house
[speaker002:] yeah actually my house is Kosher but um it turns out that one one of the strangest things about about Israel is that no um most folks don't realize that but all the food that people think of as sort of you know Jewish food and so forth um
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and you know um in general really isn't the food that is eaten in Israel so you you I'm sure you probably typically think of it like bagels right you know bagels and lox
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] turns out you don't you don't you don't really find bagels in Israel what you find is sort of Middle Eastern foods the same foods that you find in um Syria and Egypt and everything else you find things called have you ever had those
[speaker001:] yeah no no no uh kishkes or knishes or
[speaker002:] which is oh oh knishes no you don't you you you don't see a lot of that that's basically Eastern European Jewish food
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] it's it's very different I'm I I was actually very amazed when I sort of figured this out for myself that everything I grew up with really wasn't Israeli it was more Jewish you know
[speaker001:] I got you
[speaker002:] it it it it is very strange um
[speaker001:] yeah still get your Passover Matzi and all that right
[speaker002:] that that starts tomorrow night that's what I'm making that's what I'm d oing now I'm making dinner
[speaker001:] oh really I dated uh I dated a nice Jewish girl for many years up in Chicago and I was the only Goyim at at all the you know Seder dinners and everything and I used to have to go with rolls of not pocketful of change to buy all this bread the kids would sell me
[speaker002:] ought to buy the bread from that's great well you've you've you've really got a handle on this stuff I've noticed you
[speaker001:] not not
[speaker002:] got got the vocabulary down and everything
[speaker001:] yeah not uh just just enough to get by
[speaker002:] that that that's actually real good yeah we um we actually we have the reverse situation turns out that um um most of my friends aren't Jewish and and and my wife's not but I
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] but I um I sort of you know do a lot of these things so so that um Seder's you know our our first Seder is tomorrow night and this is a rare exception there are going to be sixteen people at my house tomorrow night which and five of them will be Jewish
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] two two years ago we had a Seder we had sixteen people each night sixteen seems the magic number for us
[speaker001:] wow
[speaker002:] and I was the only Jew both nights
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] so so which to me is wonderful because it means that people who never would get these to see this um so get to see it and my view is Passover is should sort of be in in in in in in my mind Passover is sort of a generic holiday anyway because it it sort of predates Christ
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] well they had the matter of fact I just watched uh Charles Heston this uh this weekend in the Ten Commandments
[speaker002:] oh yeah I caught the end of that
[speaker001:] did you
[speaker002:] yeah every year I try and catch that but yeah that's what always amazes me actually is that um is that you know my my wife and I always sort of bring this up about she her her being Syrian you know and my being Jewish and all we look alike we act alike we sound alike well not totally alike but you know um um it's amazing to think that people in the Middle East sort of all hate each other
[speaker001:] well that's uh to me it's it's really um I I I guess I guess I can intellectually uh kind of come to grips with all of that but you know emotionally I have a real difficult time believing that uh that that people that believe in God and and love not war and to forgive can't get together
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know I mean I I know that the problems are so deep but I mean even even within the Muslim uh religions different sects they can't get together
[speaker002:] right that that's actually the part that that that I find really strange I mean I I I sort of understand somewhat I mean I I knowing the history I understand that the hatred of the Muslims for you know the Israelis or whatever and I can sort of handle I can sort of handle that and the Palestinians but I sort of think about the Muslims sort of running around having jihads against themselves
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know I mean and and that seems really weird
[speaker001:] or the uh the the you know the Catholics and the Protestants up in Ireland
[speaker002:] right exactly
[speaker001:] you know I mean I I
[speaker002:] same same thing
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I don't I'll I'll I'll never understand it uh my view is look what'd you ever do to me
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] didn't hurt me you know at at at the moment so um and and I I don't know there's a there's something about there's a poem somewhere I don't know if you've ever seen it or not um um Everything I Ever Wanted to Know I Learned in Kindergarten have you ever seen this and it talks about how you know if we could just all get together you know when we were young everything was great because we you know just sort of all went to class together and in the middle you know we all had snack time together and then we all took naps and we all held hands and hugged
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know and that's and that's and that's what that's what kindergarten was like and wouldn't it be nice if if we could solve all our problems by just sort of getting together and everyone in the world sat down and and took a nap together woke up and had snack time you know and then hugged each other as as we left
[speaker001:] it sounds like a it sounds like a John Lennon uh type
[speaker002:] yeah I wonder if he secretly did that
[speaker001:] gosh