How Israeli Policy Puts U.S. Troops in Harms Way

How Israel Betrays U.S. President George Bush and the people of the United States

Israel Undermines U.S. Foreign Policy and puts U.S. Troops in harms way

Andy Martin

President George Bush needs a Palestinian/Israeli hostage crisis right now like he needs a hole in the head.  Bush has done more for Israel than any other president. And, in return, Israeli leaders have repeatedly betrayed Bush’s generosity and sincerity and undermined the president’s foreign policies.

Bush has always been frank about his lack of experience in foreign affairs. Thus, he admittedly relied on advisors to an unusual and ultimately disastrous extent. Earlier this year he addressed accusations of undue Israeli influence on his actions and denied there was any. But influence is only part of the problem, and Bush has ignored the reality that Israelis independently continue to undermine America’s foreign policies and contribute to the senseless death of thousands of American soldiers.

The time is long past when we could debate the wisdom of invading Iraq (I opposed the war). We are there. The advice that got us there was bad, some of it fabricated, some of it nonsense, some of it delusional. But the patience of the American people for foreign adventure is not endless, especially when young men and women are now dying for a policy, or is it a cause?Middle East democracythat was never proffered as a basis for invading Iraq.

What President Bush has needed as he pursues his Iraq engagement is a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis. Instead, he continues to get endless Israeli21 provocations.

Israel says it withdraw from the Gaza Strip last September. Only a fool would believe that claim. Israelis have been treating the women and children of Gaza as a shooting gallery. Mass murder is unfortunately Israeli policy; human beings are used for target practice. To kill one person, the IDF admits it is prepared to injure dozens, hundreds.

The Israeli strangulation of Gaza reminds one of the siege of Leningrad in World War II. Israeli policy is to starve Palestinians into submission, to degrade them beyond belief, to humiliate Palestinian leaders and to trumpet Israel’s power. Some power. A bunch of kids with shovels just tunneled into an Israeli camp, killed enemy soldiers, and took a prisoner. Big deal.

The U. S. has thousands of prisoners in Iraq and around the world. We have murdered innocent detainees and degraded them. Sounds similar, doesn’t it?

Why can’t Palestinians equally claim enemy prisoners when they are fighting for their freedom from Israeli occupation? Israelis argue they are at war. But they want a war in which only Israelis can take prisoners, only Israelis can kill the enemy, only Israelis can lay siege to their “enemy.” The reality is that in war, both sides kill; both sides seek to destroy the other. Corporal Shalit: welcome to the real world.

Instead of trying to work for peace, the Israeli policy of genocide offers endless opportunities for response by the embattled Palestinian people. Israel’s actions utterly destroy any benefits flowing from the tragic loss of American lives in Iraq in pursuit of the futile grail of democracy.

It is true, of course, that Palestinians are also riven by internal challenges, rivalries, and opposition. But all of this internal conflict is exacerbated by the occupation and now the siege of Gaza.

Israel’s paper mache Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is threatening an invasion to rescue Corporal Gilad Shalit. And, in his continuing policy of indecent and outrageous behavior, Olmert has threatened innocent Palestinians with reprisals when it is clear that Shalit was taken prisoner by a splinter group. Mass reprisals may satisfy the Israeli blood lust for revenge, but they also trigger a reaction from Palestinians for yet another round of retaliation.

The United States stands by helplessly, while George Bush’s presidency slowly but inexorably sinks into the quicksand of Middle East chaos, courtesy of his ally, friend and fellow travelers, the Israeli government and its leaders.

Just why are Americans dying for democracy, when Israelour self-proclaimed ally in the Middle Eastdoes everything it can to destroy U. S. foreign policy interests? What has democracyi.e. a free and fair election in Palestinebrought Palestinians except the Israeli siege and genocide, all courtesy of President Bush’s rubber stamp? And we wonder why they hate us?

As this is written we obviously don’t know how the drama of Corporal Shalit will play out. He is a young man who has become a pawn. What is highly significant is that Reuters quotes the U. S. Government as calling for diplomacy instead of military action. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is aware that Israeli policies endanger American interests. She may have become the long-needed voice of reason and restraint in Washington.

Ultimately, the real hostage in this mess is not Corporal Shalit. The real hostages are America’s fighting men and women, who are fighting and dying for a democracy that is being undermined by Israeli militarism.

There are many failed states in the Arab world. That is undoubtedly true. But there is an even bigger failed state, Israel, and that state has become a noose around President Bush’s neck.

Unless and until Bush takes command of his administration and cuts his own deal with the Palestinians, and stops acting like a robotic parrot for Ehud Olmert, the Bush presidency will continue its slow death into oblivion.