Bible Prophecy proves Israel is God's chosen people and is the focal point of World Politics

I accept (that's to say, I don't want to debate) the notion that the people of Israel are God's chosen people. However, it does make me feel a little left out, doesn't it you, Scorp? WHAT ABOUT US? Anyway… That Israel is the focal point of today's world politics is what I feel compelled to disagree with. Hopefully my opponent accepts the debate on this premise alone? (By the way, what a mess you've made out of this debate – I bet if you have a wife, or any future wife you may have if you don't already, is or will be constantly busy cleaning up after your @$$ ;) I understand my opponent to be saying that Israel is indeed the focal point of world politics because of what we see going on in the Middle East right now. The bible excerpts at the end of his opening statement are supposedly describing the current conflict between Israel and the nations surrounding it. Therein, the prophecy is being fulfilled and he believes (right Scorp?) that Israel is the centerpiece of our war on terrorism. So basically, I think he believes the U.S. government is having such a problem with these surrounding nations (Iraq, Iran) because we recognize Israel's right to exist and that pisses them off. In their anger, they want to destroy us (9/11) in order to have a better chance of finally getting rid of Israel… Now, I really don't want to put words into you mouth, Scorp – so correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I understand you to be saying? Since this is where I see you coming from, this is what I will respond to. 1. Israel is not the reason for 9/11: What Bin Laden's first tape following 9/11 describes is why he wanted to strike us and why he feels justified in doing so. He says in the tape, "What America is tasting now is something insignificant compared to what we have tasted for scores of years. The Islamic world has been tasting this humiliation and this degradation for 80 years… Neither America nor the people who live in it will dream of security before we live it in Palestine, and not before the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad." We were attacked because of our foreign policy decisions(1) (sorry George Bush) that date back to the division of the Ottoman Empire after World War I -- and that we abandoned Afghanistan after our occupation there beginning in 1978 and ending around 1988 didn't help anything either. We supported the mujahideen resistance against the PDPA because we wanted to stop the spreading of the Soviet Union and their resulting communist states. We didn't give a **** about the Afghan people, so once our objectives were met (the Soviet Union gave up and went home) we just left the country in turmoil and strife and didn't look back until September 11th, 2001.(2) This is just scratching the surface of why these people are pissed off at us and why they would really want to attack us. Israel is only one part of it, it's only one piece of the larger picture that sits in unison right behind the eyes of the people who hate us. 2. Israel is not why we're in Iraq: The US is in Iraq because of the propaganda that connected Hussein to Bin Laden and because of the incorrect allegations of Hussein possessing WMD's… So George Bush stood up on his little podium and it was like this, "OMG, Hussein is party to what just happened to us! He's a horrible man! Listen America, he possess weapons of mass destruction and might launch them at us! We must go and STOP HIM, or we're all gonna die!" Basically. So then, the politics involved in that have very little to do with Israel and our clashes with Iran right now and the increasing numbers of al Qaeda in the Iraqi region, have to do with our occupation there. The occupation, as I said, that has very little to do with Israel. And the occupation, as we all know, that has nothing to do with 9/11. All of this we have going on today is far more complicated than saying it all comes back to Israel and that's the reason why. It's a mess, a complicated mess… but as I don't feel like continuing, I think I've already shown two sufficient reasons at this point as to why Israel is not the focal point of today's world politics. In fact, I think I've shown sufficient reasoning as to why Israel is not the focal point of Middle Eastern politics at this time, let alone world politics. (1) http://www.henrythornton.com... (2) "Still, with military action in Afghanistan expected soon, it is necessary to look hard at Afghanistan's past two decades of turmoil and seek to learn lessons from that past. And while there are many factors leading to the dismal situation of Afghanistan today, it also is the case that missteps in U.S. foreign policy are, in part, to blame. U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, Russia and the region during the 1980s helped, at least indirectly, nurture the growth of anti-American and fundamentalist forces now controlling Kabul, and indeed, even some of the terrorists now being sought by the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks against New York and Washington. In planning for intervention in Afghanistan now, the Bush administration must work hard to avoid the mistakes of the past." http://www.cdi.org...