Oh please. Thinking that "delivering Palestine" will solve these problems is as simplistic, as saying, e.g., "getting rid of Saddam will solve Iraq's problems. And it will presage a new dawning of democracy that will spread all over the Middle East" (and a large part of the public bought that argument, too, didn't they?)

Much of the Middle East is run by dictators (just because Eqypt's Mubarak calls himself "President", doesn't make him any less a dictator), and they whip up and focus discontent on the Israeli-Palestinian problem in an effort (fairly successful, I might add) to keep attention away from their own governance failures (some combination of: massive poverty, illiteracy, lack of basic civil rights, etc.). This political tactic is as old as the hills (and even done a bit succesfully in the US -- which is why Rudy can't say any sentence without 9/11 in it; which is why the Dems can't stand up to Mukasey, or FISA, etc.)

Pakistan's number one problem is that it's dictator doesn't want to give up power.

Add in a veritable plethora of tribes, the Taliban in the north, nuclear weapons, Kashmir, India, etc etc . . . .

(Zogby was talking about *polling* numbers, not reality. Much of the US -- by polling -- is worried about Iran. But is this the reality? Almost half of the US still thinks Iraq was connected to 9/11 -- is this the reality?)

And this is all going to be solved by solving the Israel-Palestinian questions?

Not likely.

Posted at November 5, 2007 8:44 AM in response to Pakistan Nightmare Could Metastasize Through Region