LOPBURI, Thailand — American actor Steven Seagal said the U.S. should "get out of the Middle East completely" and end its involvement in Israel and Saudi Arabia so Muslims can create their own societies.

Mr. Seagal, fresh from test-firing an assault rifle and pistol at a Thai military base where he met Thai generals and anti-terrorist commandos, also said the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan was not going well.

"I think that this is going to be an ongoing battle and this is not something that I think is going to end for a long, long time. Do I think it is going good? No, I don't think it's good.

"I don't even think we really know who the enemy is. I think that there are a lot more of the quote-unquote enemy out there than the common American is speculating.

"My opinion, as a human being and as a Buddhist and as a military strategist, is not to go in and annihilate all quote-unquote enemies, but rather try to find spokespeople for the United States of America who can open up lines of communication with people having other mindsets," Mr. Seagal said.

"They may have different religions, they may even be terrorists. But I don't think it is realistic for us to think that we can wipe out every terrorist in the world."

The muscular actor, who sports a pony-tail and has Buddhist prayer beads wrapped around both wrists, spoke in a taped interview after visiting Thailand's Special Warfare Command in Lopburi during his tour of this Southeast Asian country.

Asked for his views on the U.S. military and commercial presence in Saudi Arabia, he replied: "Let's get out of there, let's get out of the Middle East completely, give that to them, let that be their turf. Let them have their own perspective — spaces, pieces of land and religions — and let's leave them alone.

"I don't think that America should have gotten involved in Israel to begin with and I think that our involvement in Israel caused a tremendous escalation in what has happened, to this moment."

Wearing blue jeans and a yellow silk vest decorated with a bamboo motif, Mr. Seagal added, "We are not the world police and it is not up to us to go impose our will on other nations unless they are systematically terminating people and torturing them.

"Then, at that point, I think we as human beings should try to investigate those problems in another fashion, as we do with Amnesty International and so forth. Amnesty International doesn't go in with military might and start hunting down people and killing them."

Before arriving in Thailand, Mr. Seagal was in Mongolia where he hopes to star as Ghengis Khan, a ruthless military genius whose so-called "Mongol hordes" slaughtered countless thousands of people across Asia and eastern Europe in the 13th century. "We may shoot some [scenes] in China, some in Mongolia," he said.

"Ghengis Khan, in my opinion, is no different than me and you in the sense that he lived 800 years ago in a time when it was kill or be killed. He just happened to do it better than many other people and he had his moments as a philosopher, he had his moments as a mystic, he was involved in mysticism, shamanism, spiritualism, Buddhism — he was interested in all these things.

"When he conquered different countries, rather than slaughtering all of the people, often-times he would take the artists, the poets, the mystics, the philosophers, the actors, the interpreters, so that he could expand his horizon and his mind and greater understand the world and the people.

"He was a complex individual who of course did a lot of terrible things, [but] in my opinion, he was probably the greatest military strategist of all time."

In Thailand, Mr. Seagal was scoping out various sites for a film titled, Belly of the Beast. "It is really just a political thriller. There is some anti-terrorism in it," he said.

Thailand would provide "a backdrop where there are corrupt American officials, corrupt Middle Eastern officials and corrupt Thai officials but there is also good in each area which kind of counter-balances the whole story."

Mr. Seagal said he would star as an "ex-spook".

In addition to acting, Buddhism and martial arts, Mr. Seagal also enjoys shooting weapons.

"Colt .45 would be my weapon of choice. That's what I use. When I go shooting, I'll do like 1,000 rounds a day."

While demonstrating his shooting skills for the Thai generals and anti-terrorist troops in Lopburi, Mr. Seagal told them: "When I come back in November, I'll bring some of my guns or something and show you some of my techniques."

The actor arrived in Thailand at the beginning of August for a 10-day tour.

While in Bangkok, he visited a sword-fighting school, played blues guitar in a charity concert, stopped at a go-go bar and appeared on a Thai television show.

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is located at http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent and he may be reached by email at animists *at* yahoo dot com.