Under another thread I had asked in passing if the US would invade Iran or just bomb the hell out of it...

Guess I have an answer...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/12/wiran12.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/12/ixnewstop.html

"the steady flow of disclosures about Iran's secret nuclear operations and the virulent anti-Israeli threats of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has prompted the fresh assessment of military options by Washington."

Why is the US setting itself up to defend ISRAEL again?
If they were indicating that Iran was preparing to target New York City,I might be a bit more concerned. Doesn't Israel have a rather LARGE arsenal, including nukes?

It's not like we don't already help Israel:

http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2005/ane/il.html

"The United States, acting through USAID, will provide $360,000,000 ESF in FY 2005 to Israel as a cash transfer. These funds will be used by Israel to repay debt to the U.S., including re-financed Foreign Military Sales debt, and to purchase goods and services from the United States"

"Other Donors: The United States is the largest bilateral donor to Israel."

An additional, though not as well verified source, has this to say:
http://www.vexen.co.uk/USA/foreign_aid.html

"Over 50% of its aid budget is spent on middle-income countries in the Middle East, with Israel being the recipient of the largest single share"

"According to Heater & Berridge, Israel has been receiving 12/13% of all American charitable foreign aid since 1979"

Can someone tell me why we spend so much money on a country that we get so little return on? Countries where literally millions are dying of AIDS from get less. Countries that have suffered catastrophic disasters get less. Many AMERICAN programs for the poor and needy get less.

The stated goal of American foreign aid is to create goodwill around the world. If this is indeed the goal then we are failing miserable in this one area. We are hated in the Middles East for the amount of support in dollars as well as political support we give Israel. I AM NOT anti-Semitic, but I do feel that there is a blind degree of support for Israel from the US Government.

Whether it is from perceived guilt over the failure of the US and other countries to have stopped the holocaust or the more 'practical' perceived political power of the Jewish vote in America, it has embroiled the US time and again in the Middle East and affected our international policies more than almost any thing since the end of the Cold War and even during the Cold War had significant impact.

A thought that might well concern our political body is how Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. If the Body Politic is concerned about Political Power, they might well wonder how long until Islam, not Judaism, is the dominant Religious minority.

posted by Anonymous @ 1:02 PM
 
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