I've spent a good deal of time in the Middle East over the years, lecturing at universities in places like Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Morocco.

Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East.

Americans like buying American vs. buying from Chavez or buying from the Middle East.

Life in the Middle East is quite different from other places.

I've done two USO Tours, one in the Middle East and one in Asia, and spent time with the troops.

It took from 1967 to 2003—over three decades—to build the big men. It took a decade—2003 to 2013—to destroy them. I suspect a new generation of big men will return. No people can tolerate chaos forever. Dictators will offer a way out and many of the exhausted and brutalized people of the Middle East will accept them, and I suspect Washington will as well.