WWI was a powder keg and Serbia was the match. But it isn't the match's fault that it lit the powder keg.

Well in fairness there wouldn't have been war in the pacific without War in Europe, so I think you can justify that as well.

@Figlesquidge: Well, we cannot say that THERE WOULDN'T HAVE been, more it would be UNLIKELY. As the Japanese had been planning the attack for some time, and their alliance with Germany was there to give them the backing they needed to orchestrate said attack. They were many reasons they wished to attack the United States. And who knows who the beligerents would be if it wasn't the United States. I would guess Russia would try again against the Japanese, China would probably join in with Russia, and who knows where that would have lead.

Gah, still I can't type today. *They = There

"So which is it. Did they sit out? Or did they send untrained armies?"

Saying that Lebanon sent an army to wipe out Israel is a lot like saying that Poland sent an army to wipe out the Palestinians (most of the members of the Zionist militant groups that would come to form the IDF and the Israeli government were originally from Poland). The "Arab Armies" were largely untrained and ill-equipped volunteers with no real backing from their governments. (The Jordanian Legion - the only well-trained and well-equipped Arab force in the 1948 war - sat the fight out and avoided combat once its objectives in the West Bank had been taken. Some (Avi Shlaim, "Collaboration Across the Jordan") argue a division of the land that was alotted to the Palestinians by the Partition was pre-arranged between the Israelis and Jordanians prior to and/or during the war)

"And just know I can send you plenty of links and book suggestions too, I just know not to waste my time."

Sheesh. You complain because I didn't give you a cite on one thing, and now when I give you a cite on something else (WHICH YOU SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR), you get all snarky with me. There's just no pleasing some people. To quote Fargo - "You've got no cause to get snippy with me, sir. I'm just doing my job here."

"My comment was not anti-Arab or anti-Muslim. It was in an insinuation of bad PARENTING on the part of ONE woman."

I am pleased you are able to differentiate, and I don't entirely disagree with you on this point. But I'm sure you know the "Arabs hate Jews more than they love their own children" refrain is a popular one for many Zionists, and it sounded an awful lot like that was what you were saying. In the name of consistency, will you also denounce Israelis who move their families to towns within rocket range of Gaza?