Who's to blame for the problems in the Middle East?

US Politics Poll

Any discussion of the "Middle East" invaribly includes Iraq, although in the not-too-distant past, the phrase was a shorthand for issues surrounding Israel.

The region has been troubled for thousands of years. Can those who live there and those of us who watch, or move armies like they were chess pieces, ever be able to put the past behind us and move forward? Can brotherhood -- which is a tenet of all three relgions descended from Abraham -- trump "my god is better than your god and he gave this land to us"?

Is there only one villian in this epic drama?