What has the United States actually been doing in the Middle East in the recent past?

• the shooting down of two Libyan planes in 1981

• the bombing of Lebanon in 1983 and 1984

• the bombing of Libya in 1986

• the bombing and sinking of an Iranian ship in 1987

• the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988

• the shooting down of two more Libyan planes in 1989

• the massive bombing of the Iraqi people in 1991

• the continuing bombings and draconian sanctions against Iraq for the next 12 years

• the bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998

• the abduction of “suspected terrorists” from Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Albania, who were then taken to places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where they were tortured

• the large military and hi-tech presence in Islam’s holiest land, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region

• the support of numerous undemocratic, authoritarian Middle East governments from the Shah of Iran to Mubarak of Egypt to the Saudi royal family

• the invasion, bombing and occupation of Afghanistan, 2001 to the present, and Iraq, 2003 to the present

• the bombings and continuous firing of missiles to assassinate individuals in Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Libya during the period of 2006-2011

Keep dreaming...