"Islam was not forced on local indigenous populations -- it took Egypt all of 400 years to change from a Muslim minority country to one with a Muslim majority."

"The Lebanese need to keep the peace and tone down the rhetoric."

"The secret police do not believe you, and the U.S. government tells them that they must do whatever it takes to break you down and extract your confession."

"Instead of the “spin” used by the Administration to describe current US-Middle East relations, the CSIS “Advisory Committee on US Policy in the Arab World” begins their report with a sober assessment of the challenges faced by the US in the region."

"It takes a heartless breed of ruthless neoconservatives who willfully send so many innocents to their needless graves, a breed with no hint of moral conviction, a breed unremorseful in its self-motivated delirium for profit. This is not the way it's supposed to be! Where has my beloved America gone? This new American patriotism depicts the ugliness, the futility and meaninglessness of submission to the nation state, a form of sacrificial death stripped of words such as honor, heroism and glory."

"The Iranian parallels to the runup to the Iraq war are eerie, with all types of peace efforts being tried to placate the angry "Uncle" Sam--or should it be Uncle Sharon? Even the Russians assure us all spent Iranian reactor rods will be returned to them for reprocessing. But this, too, may not be enough for the war hawks to "shut" the window."

"There is no such thing as an "authorized" settlement. All settlements are illegal under international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an Occupying Power from deporting or transferring parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, either directly or indirectly. The rule applies to all structures-from the one-trail outpost to the 8,750 acre Maaleh Adumim settlement housing close to 30,000 settlers."

"The current political atmosphere is as threatening to our future as is the present weather forecast by our climate changes. The only hope is a strengthening of democratic desire to transform our entire social and natural environment."