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I too have spoken of "disengagement", but you're right, it's not a realistic short=term option. If we got all our re-alignment ducks in a row and announced TOMORROW that we were disengaging, most of the Arab world would not let us. They need the tension, and this particularly perverse and strained relationship they have with us: they also need the ability to say "Yes, we're with you, BUT..." like the Saudi Prince did the other day after giving the 10 Mil check to Giuliani---they're playing the mini-superpower role with us that they think we're playing with them: largesse that always comes with a lecture, and strings attached. However, disengagement with these people should be possible for the long-term, and I think we have to begin planning for it. Life is already too complicated to have to share the planet with these arrogant Johnny-come-latelies, who, of course, see us in exactly the same way. Their only claim to belonging to the 21st Century is that they happened to be sitting atop a precious global resource that they'd never have been able to exploit without the help of the West.