Why are U.S. troops fighting Israeli battles?

Now that it has -- FINALLY -- been established that right-wing so-called "neoconservatives" played a major role in dragging our nation into an UNprovoked war on Iraq,the question becomes:

WHY did Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld allow these individuals to devise U.S. foreign policy?

Instead of leaning on Sharon and demanding he allow the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, he was given carte blanche to do as he pleased thereby playing right into the hands of Osama and his al Qaeda cohorts.

It is obvious that the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been used as a great recruiting tool by those intent on harming U.S. interests.

In short, policies adopted to members of the "Bush-Sharon Axis" have led to more rather than less terrorism, all across the globe.

With friends like these...who needs enemies?

Sept. 15, 2004 - http://www.rense.com/general57/apic.htm

AIPAC's Power Or America's Cowardice? By Charley Reese

It was 1996, and Bill Clinton was president. To give the rascal his due, he
was laboring mightily to make the Middle East peace process work. That same
year, three American neoconservatives produced a policy paper for the newly
elected Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The neocons were Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser. Their policy
paper recommended to Netanyahu that he abandon the peace process, reject
"land for peace" and strengthen Israel's defenses in order to confront Syria and
Iraq. The document said, "This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right." It
also recommended that Israel use pretexts for preemptive attacks.

Now, if all of this sounds familiar and it should that's because Perle, Feith
and Wurmser joined other neocons in the Bush administration. Perle was
especially vocal in pushing the war on Iraq. They had two pretexts: the attack of
Sept. 11, even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with it, and the mythical weapons of mass destruction.

Netanyahu, by the way, did abandon the peace process. And, at a cost of $200
billion and nearly 1,000 American lives, Israel did achieve its "strategic
objective in its own right" removing Saddam from power.

Unless Perle and his buddies were paid for their advice, it didn't cost
Israel one shekel or one life.

Furthermore, if you stretch your memory, you will recall that until Iraq blew
up in its face, the Bush administration was laying the groundwork to attack
Syria, the other country Perle and his crowd named as target for Israel. It has
already imposed sanctions on Syria despite the fact that, according to our
own intelligence people, Syria had been cooperating with the war on terror. The other target of the Israelis excuse me, the Bush administration is Iran.

When President Bush first started talking about terrorism, he use to say
"terrorists with global reach" to distinguish between al-Qaeda and strictly local
outfits with local agendas. That did not suit the Israelis and their American
supporters. They wanted Israel's enemies to be our enemies, and so the
distinction was soon dropped, and Israel's enemies were added to the official list of terrorist organizations.

The problem is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are Palestinian organizations
fighting for independence. True, they have used terrorist tactics, just as the
Jewish organizations the Stern Gang and the Irgun did when they were fighting
the British occupation of Palestine. But their target is the Israeli occupation,
not us.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization that has also used terrorist tactics,
including attacks against Americans in Lebanon, when it figured we were helping the Israelis in their occupation of Lebanon. But there again, its quarrel is with Israel.

I have long since given up the hope that Americans would wake up and resent
the manipulation of their government by a foreign country. The Israeli lobby
has been so successful in labeling any criticism of Israel, no matter how
justified, as anti-Semitic that most Americans prefer to stick their heads in the
sand. For sure, American politicians and much of the media seem to be terrified
by the Israeli lobby, which says more about their cowardice than it does about
the power of the lobby itself.

So, suit yourself. Go ahead and spend American blood and treasure for the
benefit of Israel.

Just remember, the United States has one, and only one, legitimate interest
in the Middle East, and that is buying oil that everybody who has it wants to
sell. It doesn't matter whether we buy it from a dictator (we bought plenty
from Saddam) or from a democratic government. It doesn't matter to us if the
country that sells us oil likes or hates Israel.

This whole mess, including the war in Iraq and the terrorist attacks of 9/11,
is a result of the American government's involvement with Israel. It's a
dangerous and unhealthy state of affairs that will not be cured until Americans
find the courage to have an open and honest debate about our foreign policy in
the Middle East.

If you want more details on these neocons, I recommend:

Secrets and Lies, by Dilip Hiro, a distinguished Middle East scholar

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560255560/antiwarbookstore

Pretext for War by James Bamford's

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385506724/antiwarbookstore <<