[speaker001:] Well what do you feel about the, um, present situation in the Mideast?
[speaker002:] Well, it looks like it's just about as volatile as it usually is.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] What do you think, Mark?
[speaker001:] [Lipsmack] Yeah, I agree. I think, I think there's definitely been some changes, um, and I think you know, the, the, um, end of the Soviet Union will definitely have its effect on, on the situation.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] Um, you know, in that there's, there's not, you kno-, there, you know, i-, you know, basically since the end of World War two there was always, you know, that little proxy war going on.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know, with, um, the U S funding Israel and, and the, um, Soviet Union funding the Arab countries.
[speaker002:] And then we'll see what happens when, uh, they're not funded quite as much.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Or supplied with arms the same way.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Yeah, but on the same token, you know, Israel has lost a lot of their, you know, value to the U S in being, you know, the foothold of capitalism.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know in, in the Mideast.
[speaker002:] Well, I, we tend to be pretty strong supporters of Israel ourselves,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] you know, we s-, kind of cringe when they make mistakes but yet
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] overall tend to support them. But, I think one of the most interesting things to me recently was, you know, during the war,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, in, uh, Kuwait was, uh, the fact that they did not retaliate,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] for the, uh, scud missiles that were, uh, launched there. That just seemed to me to be a, uh, a phenomenal, uh, demonstration of restraint, and it must have reflected, uh, uh, some awful good, uh, diplomacy on the part of the U S.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. [lipsmack] Yeah, but on the other hand, you know, if they would have had a hard time retaliating because the, you know, they, they wouldn't have been given access to the friend or foe codes.
[speaker002:] I see.
[speaker001:] They basically would have, you know, had a, had a f-, they had, they would have had, had to fly through, you know, two enemies.
[speaker002:] Oh, you don't think they got the codes from the U S already?
[speaker001:] The U S would claim that they would have not given them to them.
[speaker002:] I see.
[speaker001:] I mean, of course, you know, public statements can be taken for,
[speaker002:] That's true. [LAUGHTER] They can, yet they,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] D-,
[speaker002:] Well what do y-, what about this situation with the, you know, the, uh, continual, uh, harassment by Iraq right now and, uh, apparently failing to let the, uh, arms inspectors have free access.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. [lipsmack] You know, [breathing] well, to begin with, you know, I pretty much question or what, what the U S -s motives were in, uh, in, in actually the original involvement.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, [lipsmack] I, the cynical side of me says that, you know, it was more for, uh, the, the domestic political situation than for anything else.
[speaker002:] Huh, yeah, okay.
[speaker001:] You know, and that, you know, and for portraying Bush is a strong President.
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] Uh, I mean I really, I really think that, that, my gut feeling is that, that, you know, he pretty much picked, picked the fight with, uh, with, um, Hussein.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I mean I'm not, not saying at all that Hussein wasn't quite willing to ge-, enter that fight.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] But, you know, I think, I think that, that, um, we chose to have our official feelings hurt.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Where a lot w-,
[speaker002:] Well, do you think that, uh, we should ignore it and just allowed him to go ahead and, uh,
[speaker001:] [Gasp].
[speaker002:] you know, move on into Kuwait and see what happens?
[speaker001:] I think, I mean I thought, I think that, um, in the past we've allowed lots of things like that to happen.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And I, I really don't, I really don't think that, I think, I think it was, it was, there were, there were a lot more demographic related interests involved than true foreign policy interests.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Um,
[speaker002:] Yeah, well may have been. You know, I'm not saying that that's not the case. Uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah. And I mean in, in, in along this line since, since, you know it, it really, it really didn't accomplish very much except we're getting, getting, uh, the Iraqis out of Kuwait.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] I just don't, I just don't, I, I, I d-, I, I, I don't foresee Bush making the decision to invest a lot of manpower and money and, you know, in, in fighting a second battle.
[speaker002:] No.
[speaker001:] Um, you know, over, over the, uh, over, over what, what probably won't accomplish him, accomplish much for him politically.
[speaker002:] No, it doesn't look like we're getting ready to do, to do much more in there.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Even at this point.
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well what about, uh, do you have any, any views on, uh, Israel's relation to the U S? Do you,
[speaker001:] [Breathing].
[speaker002:] think we ought to, you know,
[speaker001:] [Lipsmack].
[speaker002:] back off on our support of the country or what do yo-,
[speaker001:] Well, I have, I have very fixed feelings about Israel. Um, I think that, that for a long while we've, we've had almost a, you know, ha-, t-,