Ok, I have a little time now, I'll post my opinion.

I think what we're doing in the Middle East is a good thing. We're keeping 2 seperate groups from killing each other.

We were attacked on September 11th because we support a certain number of Islamic countries in the Middle East. Why do we support these countries? OPEC. Oil Producing and Exporting Countries. These are the countries that supply most of our Oil here in the U.S. Big deal right? We have our own reserves right here in Alaska, right? To an extent, yes. Crude Oil (the form in which our oil is purchased) is broken down animals. Dead Dinosaurs to be more precise. Over time these animals have been covered in about a half a mile of dirt. The bodies have decomposed and turned into crude oil. For some reason a bunch of these animals died right there in the Middle East.

This concentration of oil makes up about 60% of the world's total supply of oil. The countries in the Middle East created OPEC in order to manage the distribution of that oil. They're the ones who can raise and lower our gas prices.

A small fraction of the countries in the Middle East follow the Jewish religion. The rest follow Islam. These two groups of people have been fighting over a chunk of land (Palestine) for quite some time now. We support the Jewish people, meaning we also support the Jewish portion of OPEC. Now don't get me wrong, we don't dislike the Islamic followers, but not all of them like the Americans because we support the Jews.

It's because of this support of the Jewish community that we were attacked.

'You support the Jews? We don't like you. You need to support the Muslims.'

'We are Jewish. You support us. Yay for us!'

We aren't in the Middle East trying to spread Christianity. The Jewish and Islamic religions have been established for over 2000 years now. There is no way that we could convert all of the followers, or even make a nice sized dent in them.

We pull out in June. I'm afraid to see what's going to happen then. Not only is there the seperation between the Jews and the Muslims, but there is also a split in the Islamic religion. There are two seperate groups in the Islamic religion: the Sunnii Muslims and the Shiite Muslims. I don't remember which is which but both are trying to gain power in their Countries. One group beleives that only direct decendants of Ali (Muhhammads 2nd Cousin) should be allowed power. The second group beleives that anyone who is a true beleiver in Islam should be allowed to gain power. Both of these groups are at war, and have been since the split. They cannot come to an agreement on who should become the next Caliph (Prophet).

I think what we're doing over there is a good thing. We're maintaining the peace.