Excuse me for jumping in:

>I wonder how long the palistinians would survive if the U.S. were not involved...

I wonder how long the israeli would survive if the U.S. were not involved. Remember the Gulf war? Sadan's missiles just didn't blast Israel because of US suplied Patriots salvage devices and the like.

>I do wonder what the world's political picture would be like if we had not in the past.

Me too. Well we had the Greeks and the Romans, also we had the Arabs to take Europe out of barbarity and..., but sure that doesn't count :)

Fernando