"Make no mistake about it, real damage has been done by this administration's foreign policy, and two immediate impacts are clear. First is the profound recognition that the last eight years have taken a toll across the Middle East. Many Arabs are gripped by a sense that they have lost control of their futures. They were forced to watch the unraveling of Iraq, the destructive neglect of Palestine and Lebanon, and the emboldening of extremists and Iran. This Administration's adventurous and ill-conceived policies have unleashed dynamics that threaten to spill over into new conflicts."

On April 8, 2008, John J. Sweeney said in Baltimore, MD, that the country is going down the tubes and dragging working class people with it. He’s the head of the national AFL-CIO. He added that in November: “We have an opportunity to reverse these awful trends.” On May 1, 2008, West coast dockworkers are calling a work stoppage to protest the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps, Mr. Sweeney will join them on the picket line. Stay tuned.

"Perhaps most egregiously, the U.S. Congress failed to stand up for American citizen Rachel Corrie and her family after Corrie was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. The timidity of American officials regarding Corrie's death and the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese undercuts American standing in the world and creates a dramatic rift between American law and its implementation. Both Democrats and Republicans have failed to apply the law where Israel is concerned. Consequently, Israeli officials take increasing liberties in using American firepower on the field of battle-and in civilian neighborhoods."

New organizations like European Jews for a Just Peace and the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians are giving voice to rising Jewish opposition to zionist terrorism, and are symptomatic of The Lobby’s declining credibility and inability to make a coherent defence for Israel as a necessary haven for all Jews.

"The U.S. media still has not figured out that if it takes a nuclear attack by the U.S. on anyone in the region or anywhere else, the U.S. will take or control that oil -- period. All the rest is inconsequential, and if the Iraqis decide after we take their oil that they do not want democracy, they will be allowed to have whatever they want and we will leave when the oil is gone."

"...the settlements are only a symptom, not the heart of the problem. Otherwise, why doesn't the government freeze them, at least, as it has undertaken again and again? If the settlements are the main obstacle to peace, why are they being enlarged even now, and why are new settlements still being set up, disguised as new "neighborhoods" of existing settlements?"

"Many say that the Mahdi Army could win a majority of the seats. As the United States learned in 2005, in a fractious nation, elections can often exacerbate societal cleavages rather than heal them. Thus, instead of demonstrating progress on national reconciliation, the law for local elections already may have destabilized the country further."

"'It's a draft, plain and simple. I don't care what they call it,' Steven told me as our plane landed at LAX. 'I didn't sign up for the Navy to be in the Army. But I'm going because I don't feel I have a choice. I have children to feed and a mortgage to pay.'"