Pull Up a Chair: Thomas Friedman writes an imaginary dialogue with his readers around an incendiary proposition: “There is no way that America will be able to sustain a successful Middle East policy unless the U.S. is prepared to station American troops on the ground, indefinitely, around both Afghanistan and Israel.

…Israelis and Palestinians do not have the resources, or mutual trust, ever to find their way out of this problem alone — not after the collapse of Oslo. And the U.S. can no longer afford to just let them go on killing each other. It will undermine America’s whole position in the Middle East, as more and more Muslims will blame us for what Israel does to protect itself. It will spin off more and more suicide craziness that will land at our door. And it will make it impossible for the U.S. to take on Saddam.” NY Times