Hi Nadine Carroll; Re: "Did Al Quaeda and Hizbullah bomb our troops in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia or the Cole in Yemen because of Israel? You seriously think these guys just have beefs because of Israel, they would be hunky-dory if Israel just went away? Not a chance." Hey, it's not just Israel that we're going to abandon. We're going to pull out of Saudi Arabia, the other gulf states, as well as Japan and Germany for that matter. The cold war has been over for a decade, and it's time for the US to return to its traditional peacetime isolationism. For example, see: "The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee wants the United States to close the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and shift its air operation to another base in the region, possibly Bahrain." #reply-16916115
The Democrats already want us to pull out, and like I've said, eventually the Republicans will return to their traditional isolationism, and they will want to pull out as well. As has been stated repeatedly, the US doesn't take much oil from Saudi Arabia, it's a European / Asian problem.
Re: "We are going to go to war in Iraq this year to reacquire some respect in the Middle East." Maybe in your dreams. Because of domestic political concerns, the US can't start a fight with Iraq. Maybe they'll execute a guerilla operation (with air support) like they used against the Taliban, but I doubt even that.
Re: "When we do, we will be able to count on Israel as a powerful ally that actually acts like an ally, as opposed to the State Department's perennial favorite, Saudi Arabia." Not a chance. As long as the United States is forced to choose between Israel and Saudi Arabia it will come down on the side of Saudi Arabia because of the oil there. Maybe I should remind you that Saudi armed forces have a history of fighting side by side with US troops as allies. Israel has no such history.
American policy towards the Moslem nations has already shifted. Look at the friendliness with Pakistan. Check out the rapprochement with Iran. Notice the US ties with Afghanistan.
By the way, I didn't notice Israel giving us any help in Afghanistan. The reason they couldn't is identical to the reason they can't give us help with Iraq, though I doubt that we will see war against Iraq. Israel is too much of a political minefield to be any use to the US. In other words, all the various Moslem nations are more powerful together as weak allies than Israel is as a strong ally.
Arafat knows all this, and so does Israel's leadership. That's why they can't negotiate a solution. Both sides still have too much hope. One of the two are being unrealistic...
-- Carl |
