A couple days ago Glenn Greenwald -- the only Good Reason to read Salon.com --wrote a column entitled "Finding Obama Guilty of Insufficient Devotion to Israel" that discussed the suspicions, stoked by the GOP Attack Machine and Independent Ass-Hat Joe Lieberman, that somehow Barack Obama does not fully support the State of Israel.Even though Obama basically shares the same views on Israel as John McCain and every politician in this country does.
The most interesting portion of Greenwald's column, however, was a quote he dug up from a letter Dwight Eisenhower wrote to an Advisor during the 1956 political campaign:
As we began to uncover evidence that something was building up in Israel, we demanded pledges from Ben-Gurion that he would keep the peace. We realized that he might think he could take advantage of this country because of the approaching election and because of the importance that so many politicians in the past have attached to our Jewish vote. I gave strict orders to the State Department that they should inform Israel that we would handle our affairs exactly as though we didn't have a Jew in America. The welfare and best interests of our own country were to be the sole criteria on which we operated.
As Greenwald himself noted if any Politician dared suggest that the concerns and welfare of the United States were the sole criteria on which we did or should operate (as opposed to what's best for Israel) that Politician would politically self-destruct within six months. My guess permanently labeled an Anti-Semite and a hater of Israel by ... well, everyone. At least everyone associated with AIPAC which... well certainly seems like most of Washington D.C.
Which brings to mind a rhetorical Why? Why must every Candidate for Office -- whether Democrat or Republican -- slavishly suck up to a foreign Nation-State with an abysmal human rights record even if sucking up to that Nation State was not in the best interest of the United States? No one questions a Presidential Candidate on his lack of support of France, or his perceived hostility to Poland so why does Israel deserve special status as the Nation-State You Have to Love?
Thanks to our Pro-Israel at Any Cost policies we've consistently alienated Arab countries and have radicalized generations of young men turning them into Terrorists. Israel -- and its Stateside AIPAC Supporters, like aforementioned Asshat Lieberman -- continue to be the biggest cheerleader propagandists for our illegal war in Iraq and starting a new illegal war in Iran. Meanwhile the Palestinian people live in appalling, apartheid like conditions that the United States tacitly endorses because of our and Israel's refusal to negotiate with the elected representatives of the Palestinian people.
From where I am sitting the best interests of Israel and the best interests of the United States seem completely opposed. Well, if you take it as given that our goal in the Middle East is Peace and not perpetual war. But everyone -- including my preferred candidate for President, Barack Obama -- seems perfectly content to continue to back Israel even out our own expense.
Isn't it about time that we start both looking after our own interest? Isn't it about time the United State just doesn't claim to be a fair broker in Middle East Affair but actually starts to act like one?