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I don't like sucking up to the Saudi's any more than you do! There are other interests at stake here. We have real allies, ie; Turkey, Jordan and the Stans that are in jepardy of over throw by their own religious zealots. We are walking a very shaky line to maintain stability in the region. If you do not see that then you should not comment on it.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. Diplomacy didn't save these children. What if that head shot had been directed at your daughter? I know it's an emotion based response, but if it had been my child, I wouldn't stop until I had killed as many of the SOB's as I could.

I am sure that that "stability" is precisely the reason for the Administration's actions (diplomacy). And I'm also sure it is because America is very vulnerable to economic and military shocks that it is not yet prepared to deal with effectively. And if the middle east blew up and the U.S. military was in no position to respond effectively (short of using nuclear weapons) that would undoubtedly not help our standing in the world at all.

All that said, if the price of such "stability" is alowing the Palestinians the freedom of action and manuever while restraining the Israeli's to merely defensive tactics then the question must be raised: How many dead Isrealis is the price for "stability"? One thousand? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand.

At some point, our policy (our diplomacy) simply trades Israeli lives for time (to adequately rearm and deploy), for stability, for our economy, for world opinion. I, for one, would at least like to get a sense of how many of their lives we're willing to trade for these things. Because that is the end result of our current tack in diplomacy.

Still, I wonder if telling the truth straight out is not better than fudging the truth to try and keep a country on our side for a while longer.

After all if and when we attack Iraq, we will know who our friends in the Mideast are, and I'll wager it will be a short list. Better to know now.