[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] okay well our involvement in our involvement in the Middle East well I don't know how you feel about uh Iraq but I think but I think we did the right thing there I think they stopped too soon though
[speaker001:] yeah I kind of feel that way too
[speaker002:] I think they should have just kept right on going into Baghdad uh probably could have struck a deal with the Saudi's and just let them have Iraq
[speaker001:] well and now the way they're uh treating those Kurds is that what they its terrible and we've just kind of backed off I don't understand that why we
[speaker002:] um yeah well I don't either and it's certainly foreseeable the Kurds have always been that way and every time they try something they they get the partner my French they get the crap kicked out of them and
[speaker001:] are they just kind of a nomad tribe type of thing
[speaker002:] yeah yeah they're scattered all over really you got them in Iran and Turkey and they sort of just meander around but they they hold true that Northern Iraq is theirs and uh I don't know it it was certainly foreseeable right after the war I mean it should have been obvious if it it was obvious to me it should have been obvious to the people in Washington there should have been some plans to try to give them some aid I mean we helped the Afghanistanis there's know reason why we shouldn't have helped the Kurds it didn't have to involve troops could have just given them uh you know supplies
[speaker001:] yeah but he's just shooting them and they just killing them off
[speaker002:] oh yeah I mean Lord there's things that we probably never will hear about that he's doing of course he's been doing it all along anyway
[speaker001:] horrible things yeah well yeah I guess he has I think they should have gotten rid of him that's that's the thing
[speaker002:] yeah I can't say I mean it's it's easy to understand why he's still there I mean those people over there have nothing I mean you can't you can't drag this guy down with nothing and the only thing that surprised me I really I really expect the army guys to get him out I really expected to have the
[speaker001:] his own people
[speaker002:] yeah I expected some of his generals and stuff to quietly do away with him
[speaker001:] assassinate him
[speaker002:] but uh it's amazing that they could stand around and watch their forces get decimated that way and
[speaker001:] not
[speaker002:] do anything about it
[speaker001:] yeah it's like he has some sort of a power over them I I can't figure it out
[speaker002:] yeah it's either that or he's well entrenched and they couldn't get to him or something
[speaker001:] but he's still running things
[speaker002:] he's still running things
[speaker001:] and they're still doing things for him
[speaker002:] and apparently still has a great deal of control
[speaker001:] see that's what I don't understand
[speaker002:] I don't either it's it's tough to understand those Middle Eastern types anyway they they think completely differently the way we from the way we do I've got several Middle Middle Eastern friends uh my my father was stationed in Iran many years ago and I was a little boy there and I have a couple of Iranian friends and I've got a couple Kuwaiti friends
[speaker001:] so you really know about them
[speaker002:] no no I don't I
[speaker001:] you don't
[speaker002:] no I know I know a little bit more than most people but no where near enough to even talk intelligently about them
[speaker001:] boy aren't you glad you're not over there or you weren't over there when all this erupted
[speaker002:] yep yes I am
[speaker001:] had have you ever gone back
[speaker002:] nope never have never wanted to
[speaker001:] how long were you over there
[speaker002:] uh we were there for four years
[speaker001:] well that's along time out of a child's life anyway
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah it was it was nice I enjoyed it uh Tehran was a beautiful place I still remember the house we lived in great big old it was almost something out of Ali Baba and the forty thieves you know
[speaker001:] you oh how neat
[speaker002:] yeah it was it was really nice we've got some nice uh uh Persian carpets that we still have
[speaker001:] ugh
[speaker002:] those are very nice
[speaker001:] yeah boy and you couldn't get them over hear for
[speaker002:] well you can you can but they're expensive
[speaker001:] yeah you'd have to be
[speaker002:] I went matter of fact I went to a uh Persian carpet auction about three weeks ago and I'm just amazed at some of the prices they're getting
[speaker001:] and especially now you know because you probably couldn't get anything out of there any more
[speaker002:] no not out of there but of course these things are made in uh Pakistan and India and Afghanistan and all the Iranian ones are you you know we we don't them anymore but there was loads and loads of them sent over before the embargoes and so they're still floating around
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] yeah there's a lot there's a lot of them the Afghanistan the Afghani uh carpets are nice too I mean you can't tell the difference if you're not an expert they are all nice I mean
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] they make nice carpet
[speaker001:] and they probably they do it all by hand probably
[speaker002:] yeah they do the goods are you can tell the machine made ones but the handmade ones are very easy to spot because you have the same um you have a uh oh I forgot what they call it it's the the um what am I trying to say not the picture it's the uh way it's woved you know weived woven yeah woven how it's woven into the fabric and you know they have pattern pattern that's the word good grief it's been along day
[speaker001:] um-hum woven
[speaker002:] uh-huh um and when you turn it over you'll see that very same pattern uh it will be fainter of course but it will be that same way and the machine made ones they don't they don't look like that
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it looks like our carpet where you just have a flat backing and then the thing is knitted into this backing
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] uh they're nice though I I like them I'm still negotiating I'm trying to get a couple of them for myself
[speaker001:] your parents have them oh I don't know she
[speaker002:] yeah they they they keep they keep coming with this well when we die they're yours I I don't want to wait until your dead I mean you'll probably have it in your will that you're going to be buried with them I don't know
[speaker001:] they're yours wrapped up in their c arpet
[speaker002:] yeah just to spite us you know
[speaker001:] well uh my my my ex
[speaker002:] go go I said go ahead
[speaker001:] oh oh go ahead I was going to say my ex husband was I was talking for him last night and he was talking about going over to uh uh Iran or wherever their asking he's an electrician he's certified and he's gone to school and all that for it and they're asking for these specialized people to go over there for is a year and he was talking about going over there and I said you really want to do that
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I mean I think it's probably still very dangerous over there
[speaker002:] yeah I I I think it is too there's too many factions running around uh when I was in England uh a lot of uh a lot of Brit's work over in the Middle East um
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] lots and lots of them and it it it's a it's a real financial boom for them because the the wages are tremendously high I mean they got all that money and they don't have anybody to pay it to um and it's tax free and they get free trips home twice a year things like that so they the Brit's loved it but I I'm not so sure I would want to go over there that's a little being an American you're still I mean you're still is a target over there
[speaker001:] yeah until they really and and it's not over see that's the thing it's not over and they're sending all these troops back and I think well they're probably going to end up going back over there again
[speaker002:] no not by a long shot well well you know we're not sending back as many I mean people think we're sending back a lot we're not sending back that many yet there's still a lot of them over there a lot of them a lot of airplanes a lot of ground forces
[speaker001:] well they're still shooting down planes every now and then
[speaker002:] yeah honey I uh you what we did I mean you know telling uh telling uh Saddam that well if you use your if you use your uh fighter aircraft against the Kurds we're going to shoot them down okay well wow wee you know why don't we go in there and just wipe out all their airplanes then we don't have to worry about it
[speaker001:] yeah well you know they don't need the airplanes to wipe out those people evidently they just going through and blasting them but you know from what I you know we don't hear just hear hear bits and pieces but it's pretty gruesome
[speaker002:] oh yeah yeah um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] and probably a lot worse like you said than even know
[speaker002:] well over there in that part of world anything like this always is I mean their
[speaker001:] and it will never end they've been fighting
[speaker002:] no no they've been fighting for thousands of years and it will be they'll fight for thousands of more years it it it's going to go on forever
[speaker001:] for thousands of years
[speaker002:] um the thing that surprises me really is that Israel's sitting there in the middle of all this uh I mean I I have some bones to pick with the Israeli's but you've got to admire their tenacity to be sitting there surrounded by hostile Arabs and to maintain this is our homeland you know
[speaker001:] yeah and and they
[speaker002:] they're pretty brave
[speaker001:] a lot of people still coming in from Russia and stuff jews coming in to uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] Israel I saw that on Twenty uh 2020 or something last week you know the about the migration and it's just and and jeez I don't know what their doing with all the people
[speaker002:] yeah yeah they have I don't either well um you know they what you don't hear about is how many they turn away
[speaker001:] oh I didn't even know they were turning any away
[speaker002:] yeah oh yeah they'll help them relocate somewhere else but but they're not they're they're filling up to fast and they're they're just getting to many diverse groups there and that's something the the Jews didn't really want to happen you know they're they're stuck with the fact that you've got to take in your family your brother Jew but they're also stuck with the fact they don't want to diversify their population that much
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] they I mean they got a big problem with the Palestinians they don't need any other problems
[speaker001:] yeah um boy what a mess
[speaker002:] yeah I'm I'm really surprised that Israel didn't take care of Saddam a long time ago
[speaker001:] and they just didn't do anything did they they're just kind of sitting there
[speaker002:] they're sitting there it it it makes me wonder and they've they've got the capability and they've got the people you know