What Needs to be Done in the Middle East to Achieve Peace?

[crimzonsol]

Well, I believe I have been debating people on who is responsible for the unrest in the Middle East and I felt that a change in topic was needed. The new topic: How do we achieve peace in the Middle East in these wars?
-The Israeli-Palestinian War
-The Israeli-Arab War
-The Iraq War
-The Potential Iran War
-The Indo-Pakastani(sp?) War
-The Kurdish-Turkey-Iraq-Iran War
-Other Wars I have missed

This is not about establishing those who caused the wars, this is about how these wars can be ended and problems that face the peace process.

[Drocket]

Step one is about 50 years of the west not involving itself in the middle east. The biggest problem with our trying to establish peace in the middle east is that we have absolutely no credibility. The US has been acting in an imperialistic manner there since the 50's, and other western nations for well before that. We've been making treaties, broken treaties, sponsored terrorist groups (sorry, "freedom fighters"), assassinated leaders, toppled governments, and invaded countries there willy-nilly for decades. We've acted in ways that show us to be entirely untrustworthy, and everyone in the middle east knows this. Bush's little war is just the latest in a long line of blatantly imperialist acts (though it does manage to set new records for hubris...)

The only possible chance that we have for working to create peace in the middle east is to reestablish our credibility. And quite frankly, it's just not going to be happening in our lifetimes.

[HumanBeast]

Some Righties would say turn it into a parking lot. :unreal:

[Scorpion]

Has there ever been a time in the Middle East when there hasn't been some sort of conflict? Hardly. It's endemic to the cultures in the region. There may be short periods of what passes for peace but I believe that there will always be conflict in the Middle East.

[Pookie]

I have to agree with Scorpion. I don't think real peace will ever be achieved in the Middle East, and perhaps our intervention isn't really helping, I don't think. I think the closest they'll come to peace would be a very wary, touchy ceasefire. Maybe we should get out of there and let them do it on their own or blow themselves up trying.
Purrs,

[Alexander Patton]

The only way there will ever be peace in the Middle East is if it becomes a giant parking lot. If the various religions are at peace then there will always be an internal source of strife.

[lily]

Are you advocating genocide?

[Labrocca]

Some Righties would say turn it into a parking lot. :unreal:


It would be the ONLY way to achieve peace in that region.

Step one is about 50 years of the west not involving itself in the middle east.

That's dillusional. Take a look at the history of the middle east for the past 2000 years...war after war after war. Don't blame the west.

We will never stop the wars there. However we have been funding them with our lust for Oil. If you want them to go broke, stop buying arms, and instead beg for food (Africa anyone?) then let's stop buying their oil.

The place SHOULD be nuked into oblivion. Maybe one day a President will have the actual balls to do it.

[potter]

Until we get over the idea that it's any of our business, nothing.

[Drocket]

That's dillusional. Take a look at the history of the middle east for the past 2000 years...war after war after war. Don't blame the west.

Take a look at anywhere on the planet for the past 2000 years. War is human nature. The "west" doesn't get to pretend it's nice and peaceful and civilized until it manages to go, say, a century without starting a war. Hell, forget a century - lets try a decade, just to start.

War is part of human nature. There's 2 ways to deal with it: one is to try to improve things by at least trying to not start unnecessary wars. The second is to keep right on blowing things up and whining "but *they* started it!"

[lily]

Yep (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/bashir_goth/2007/11/pakistan_to_america_keep_out.html)
Until we get over the idea that it's any of our business, nothing.
I'm tending to agree. Bush phoned Musharif and told him to hold elections. Musharif finally relented and said he'd hold them in Feb. I think we should have learned our lesson forcing elections on other countries by now.......we don't like the outcome of who they elect to protect themselves from the United States.