[speaker001:] yeah what do you think about our level of funding to Middle East Trust
[speaker002:] well I I think we could use a lot of it at home but definitely a hot spot is the poor last year proved
[speaker001:] a lot of yeah I was I was thinking while I was waiting to be connected with uh uh another party you know I got real ambivalent uh kind of mixed feelings about it I mean I agree with you I think you know jeez there's an awful lot of money that we go over there to people that seem to be uh shall we say less than appreciative
[speaker002:] I agree
[speaker001:] and at and and at the same time it uh you know I think it's important for us that you know there is some sort of stability in that region but I don't know then again you uh historically there has such a history of uh you know just being constantly in turmoil that I don't know if we can throw enough dollars at them to you know keep any kind of a lasting peace over there so I don't it's it's I I guess bottom line if I had to uh to call the shot I would like to see the the money spent a little more uh judiciously
[speaker002:] uh I I agree I like the I like the the peace process spend more money on things like that and especially with um I don't know the Palestinians and the Israelis fighting so much over who is going to go to this peace conference I'd tie some of the money to those peace conferences if they don't want to go to the peace conference then I guess they don't want the two billion dollars for the next batch of F fifteens or whatever
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah
[speaker002:] but which we'll never do but I I think it is about time especially with the Israelis that we
[speaker001:] yep yep right
[speaker002:] because many times in the past they've you know they're happy to take our money and stuff but they often times fail to give us any support in return
[speaker001:] yeah well that was exactly who I I was thinking about whenever I made the comment of uh you know money going to people that seem less than appreciative I mean they're they're ready to take it and we set you know have have set uh a precedence over the history with them of always having an open pocket book uh and uh you know they've just have grown to expect it and uh I don't mind uh helping people that I mean I don't expect somebody to grovel but at the same time don't uh you know take the money and and then uh slap me in the face
[speaker002:] right well uh they they seem to do a lot of that stuff the problem I have in the past at least it was you know they were very strategically strategically important to us but I think that's diminished a lot lately too
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] especially with the relationship we've started to develop with Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War and all and I don't know maybe we could use that to our advantage
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] at least if we are going to be giving them all this money then at least you know we should get some at least some cooperation or whatever in return
[speaker001:] yeah the one good thing about the Gulf War I I mean there was several good things about it but it was one of the few things that we've ever done as a as a country that I think practically paid for itself
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and certainly there are countries over there that have the where with all to uh uh foot their fair share of the bill
[speaker002:] well that's for sure
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and we built some good friends over there now with uh time when we can use them you know little rut
[speaker001:] yeah and and we built we we built some good friends and then we've also built some arch enemies so it's you know it's one tit for tat sort of
[speaker002:] right well most of the large enemies were large enemies to begin with though there's not too many people that went from being our friends to being our enemies but just
[speaker001:] that's true that's right that's right I I
[speaker002:] quite a few that have been from our enemies to at least tolerating us or whatever
[speaker001:] well yeah especially when if you look back at wasn't very you know that many years ago I mean back in the early seventies whenever the the Saudi's embargoed uh oil to the US we've certainly come a long way since then
[speaker002:] right that's right uh and I don't know Iran Iran now wants them to reestablish more normal relationships with us I don't know if that is in our best interests either but it's good that I don't know it it seems slightly more stable now but how long that lasts you know it can history has shown that can just be a lull before the storm
[speaker001:] yeah right right well it's you know like I say just as uh as uh a region I don't know of any uh other part of the world that uh is is so prone to change quickly and and I don't know this seems like you know they're these uh deep seeded hostilities and animosities from that are just uh handed down generation to generation
[speaker002:] right well they have the all the religious battles they have the nationalist battle they just seem to have a lot of different cultures and religions nationalisms all packed into that one small geographical area they all believe that they have rights to these lands you know there's two three four groups that all believe that this portion of land rightfully is their's
[speaker001:] you're right
[speaker002:] hopefully you know optimistically maybe maybe something you know I don't think it's all going to be rosy after this latest round of peace talks but hopefully it can be a start at least in the right direction
[speaker001:] yeah well I do like your idea of tying uh