Before you vote...

[willstrickland]

Why do I find it offensive? Because we have gone from trying to solve the conflict, to being a defacto big brother for Israel, regardless of what they do. And that, in turn, creates a myriad of problems for the U.S. most importantly an increased exposure to terrorist strikes.

 

The fundamental misunderstanding of GWB is that he honestly believes the bullshit he says. "They hate our freedom" WTF? That's the dumbest fucking thing I've heard. They don't give a shit about our freeedom, they hate the fact that we are going to take Israel's side no matter what. And that perception in the Arab world only increases the chances that we are subject to more terrorist attacks.

 

Look, you can go on a world wide rampage and topple governments and kill every terrorist you can find, but as our own homegrown terrorist Tim McVeigh showed us, it only takes a couple of people.

 

You might recall that Iran, now the largest terrorist sponsoring state, and arguably our most pressing problem, had a democratically elected government led by Mossadegh until 1953. The US and Britain backed the coup that overthrew that govt. Why? Because he nationalized the oil and that pissed off the Brits who had previosuly been milking that oil supply through a little company known as the Anglo-Iranian oil company...later to become BP. You may have heard of them...BP, British Petroleum? The stations with the dapper green and yellow starbust emblems?

 

When we occupy or otherwise screw with the rule in these states, we are seen as trying to either exploit their resources, or change their religious society. Perceptions rule the day, and perceptions about religious intentions breed terrorists. If you kill 5 but 10 take their place, have you made progress?

 

My belief is that Israel is well equiped (courtesy of the US) to defend itself and has done so and will continue to do so. We have no self-interest in being portrayed as a unconditional backer of Israel. And when you get right down to it, I am all about our self-interest. It's one of the reasons why I advocate aggresive development of alternative energy and conservation measures. Those fuckers can't eat that oil, when we stop buying it they are going to get their wish of returning to the stone age.

[scott_harpell]

Uhm... a couple other things. 1) Likud is being fought by Israel's leader as they are prohibiting the removal of the settlers. 2) Jews and Christians do not have the same religion; not even close. I am dumfounded when I hear people say things like that Israel is controlling the government and yet are supposedly the "PC" ones.