Why Is Israel So Important to the United States?

[hippie_hunter]

Which Bush? With H.W. Bush, you have to take into account that the man was a product of the Cold War. With Dubya, you have to take into account that he let other allies just walk all over him and do whatever they want as well such as Afghanistan's Harmid Karzai and Pakistan's Pervez Musharaf.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

Which Bush? With H.W. Bush, you have to take into account that the man was a product of the Cold War. With Dubya, you have to take into account that he let other allies just walk all over him and do whatever they want as well such as Afghanistan's Harmid Karzai and Pakistan's Pervez Musharaf.

You don't even need to travel that far when you take into account figures such as Cheney, or even the spectre of Hussein's history with H.W.


I was referring more to Dubya. H.W., was for all his faults, as you say, a product of the Cold War, and there was a pragmatic streak to the man. But it is no secret that while a great deal of politics is realpolitik, there is always going to be genuine and frightening ideals at work. The view of the Israeli state as necessary according to evangelical and baptist readings of the Bible, Revelation in particular, is something quite a few powerful politicians and lobbyist subscribe to, and certainly appeal to their base with in respect to the former. I would argue that a lot - not all, certainly - but a lot of support for Israel comes from a religious viewpoint. Not to the extend of jihadist views certainly, but I think it would be misstep to deny the overlap between conservative Cold War support for Israel and the relentless self-image of America as a Godly nation that has a strong Evangelical base.


I should also note that this does not mean undying support for Israel - Dubya himself has been the subject of some revisionism in regards to his relationship with Israel, given his comment supporting a Palestinian state and the fact that he didn't always see eye-to-eye with Israel.

 

[Batsfan1]

The so-called Christian Right believes Israel needs to exist for Armageddon to happen.

Which leads churches across America to support Israel no matter what, with complete and utter moral indifference to its apartheid treatment of the Palestinians.

We only really listen to God's word with that. Personally, as I understand it, the way of God is also to help others who aren't following God to accept God and the Lord And Savior Jesus Christ into their hearts so they can be saved. Not to be at war.

God bless you all! God bless everyone!

 

[Horhey]

Expired....

 

[Victarion]

I figured it was because Israel would take actions that the US couldn't without drawing extreme scrutiny from our allies. Real politik, if you will.

 

[hippie_hunter]

^^But according to the internal documents, Arab nationalism was "neutralist". The underlying threat was their belief that the first beneficiaries of the development of a country's resources should be the people of that country, rather than foreign exploitation:

Arab Nationalism was not neutralist. While Third World movements such as Arab Nationalism and Pan-Africanism were technically "neutral" in the Cold War, they often were a bit more sympathetic to the Soviet Union due to Western imperialism turning the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Africa into colonies, protectorates, and exploited spheres of influence. With economics, these movements leaned towards socialism (which made the United States even more wary of them).

Also keep in mind that internal views the United States had were horrifying wrong during the Cold War because of the aggressively anti-Communist viewpoint the government had at that time. Vietnam is the perfect example of that where they viewed Ho Chi Minh as a puppet of the Soviet Union simply because he was a Communist, when the reality was far from the truth.

That is essentially NSC 68 in plain English:

But the United States practiced that beyond just oil producing Arab states. They acted that way to every country to counter the Soviet Union. And we made very stupid decisions because of it.

I apologize for misidentifying you as Democrat btw. I debate politics a lot at another forum and I just never seen a Republican say such nice things about Hillary Clinton. They usually demonize her and Obama for all the wrong reasons, if you know what I mean.

I thought I was talking to a bunch of Democrats, actually. I was like, "where is the right wing?"

If you look into my post history you'd see that I actually loathe Hillary Clinton. The Clintons are typically the kind of centrist Democrats that I can get behind. But they're such horrible human beings. While I disagree with Barack Obama, I at least think he's a good man at heart with the best of intentions. I can disagree with someone without the need to demonize them. But the Clintons, Jesus Christ where do I begin.

I hate how Hillary has gotten this far in her political career by riding on her husband's coattails, because unlike Bill, she's a terrible politician. And I hate how people support her just because of their fondness for a man. If there is one thing that Donald Trump is right on, it's that Hillary is not a victim of her husband's indiscretions, she's an enabler and the way she treated his victims are deplorable. And her positions on serial assault are hypocritical. She is essentially one of the worst things to happen to feminism. A woman who did not get to where she is with her own skills or talents, but because of a man, and one that has hurt other women to get there.

I find her husband to be the most overrated President ever. He deserves far more blame for the 2008 Financial Meltdown that George W. Bush does. The black community's fondness for him is misplaced considering the role he has played in the incarceration of blacks and the War on Drugs. And he was investigated for serious reasons. The GOP took it too far for sure, but the things they have done were worth investigating.

And their arrogance is appalling with the way they think they are above the rules that apply to regular people.

 

[Horhey]

Expired......