Victor David Hanson takes a hammer to the myths about the war in Iraq and the Mid-east in general:

Elsewhere fiery demonstrators were shaking keys to houses that they have not been residing in for 60 years — furious about the forfeiture of the "right of return" and their inability to migrate to live out their lives in the hated "Zionist entry." Notably absent were the relatives of the hundreds of thousands of Jews of Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and other Arab capitals who years ago were all ethnically cleansed and sent packing from centuries-old homes, but apparently got on with what was left of their lives.

The Palestinians will, in fact, get their de facto state, though one that may be now cut off entirely from Israeli commerce and cultural intercourse. This is an apparently terrifying thought: Palestinian men can no longer blow up Jews on Monday, seek dialysis from them on Tuesday, get an Israeli paycheck on Wednesday, demonstrate to CNN cameras about the injustice of it all on Thursday — and then go back to tunneling under Gaza and three-hour, all-male, conspiracy-mongering sessions in coffee-houses on Friday. Beware of getting what you bomb for.

The leaders and dictators throughout the Mid-east are very scared. The status quo has always been that the US maintains a semi-neutral stance with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian issues. Not anymore. I'm reading alot of drivel about the Bush comments and the destruction of the "road map" for peace because of those comments, bullshit! Arafat seeks to benefit only himself and continually turned a blind eye to the actions of the al-Aqsa brigades and Hamas. Sharon took steps necessary to the security of the citizens he must protect, namely, taking out the Hamas leadership. Bush has to support him because Israel's war and our war are the same war. The pundits will wring there hands and whine about this break in tradition regarding the US acceptance of the Gaza withdrawal and the security fence. To them I say who cares.