« Pluto in the news | Main | LCPL MICHAEL D. GLOVER (1978-2006): »
August 25, 2006
Spitting into the wind on Israel
Rachel Neuwirth says Ehud Omert "must go" as Isreal's Prime Minister. This seems like an odd topic at a forum directed toward an American audience that has no input in Israeli leadership. It's important, of course, that Israel's conduct of its war with Hezbollah may be making the U.S. less safe. But the US cannot oust Omert, and the opinions of Neuwirth's American readers don't matter much, so the next step has to be the one very few are taking -- one that Gene Lalor did take here last week -- which is to question whether the US' relationship with Israel has been (and is) a strategic asset or a liability. The answer's always assumed to be the former, and simply raising that issue invites, even from conservatives, the "anti-Semitism" stink bomb, a tactic (ending a debate rather than engaging in it) derided by those same conservatives when it's employed against them. But if Omert's decisions may be endangering the US, why not ask the only question that matters: is our relationship with Israel worth the cost? The answer may be "yes" and it may be "no." The problem is, we'll never really know, because so few are asking the question.
Nonetheless, as Jim Pinkerton points out, the early success of Pat Buchanan's new book indicates Buchanan's America-first policies – and "paleocons" -- may be gathering steam. Pinkerton doesn't link that success with Buchanan's foreign policy, but the idea that Americans should consider America's interest first is the idea that matters.
Posted by bill at August 25, 2006 03:06 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
