wrote in message
oups.com...
But why the civil war?

*********

Broad answer is much the same throughout the Middle East. Conflicting
values coupled with paradigms that do not allow compromise. The last
civil war in Lebanon was a case of the Christian militias vs. the
Moslem militias, but even in countries with a clear Muslim majority
there is some bitter feuding between divisions. (See the Catholic vs.
Protestant wars, slaughters,
and political manipulations throughout the last several hundreds years
in Europe for a comparison).

Peace in the region has, historically, been maintained by a tribal or
religious leader ascending to power and ruling dictatorially. It takes
more than a desire for "freedom" to create a functioning democracy, and
some of the major elements we rely upon in the west are not at all
present in the culture of the middle east. Perhaps we'll simply
re-learn the lesson that we mastered once befo if we can't turn
every little country into a democratic republic with a capitalist
economy, seeing that the "strong man" running the show is reasonably
humane and favoraby disposed to western interests may be a practical
substitute.


Was a very peaceful country, and extremely prosperous for both Christians
and Muslims. Very little problem, until some idiot in government invited in
the ( I think the variety was ) Hamas Palestinians. Then they had most of
the guns and attempted to take over control. Therefore war. If they went
back to their lands, then there would be very little conflict.