Rand is correct. The Middle East has been a battleground throughout recorded human history. Every outside nation that has intervened in this region has been unable to pacify it — Babylon Empire, Ancient Persia, Alexander the Great, Rome, European Christian Crusaders, France, Great Britain and now the United States. There is no compelling national interest for the US to occupy Gaza indefinitely. Gaza does not threaten the homeland. We should have learned that lesson in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is up to Israel and the other nations of the Middle East to resolve the problems in Gaza.
Trump’s conservative voter base is very against foreign military intervention to solve other nation’s problems. Trump runs the risk of dividing the coalition that put him in office by getting the US military into a costly overseas occupation. Israel is a wealthy nation with a strong military.
The revelation that USAID spent $50 million buying condoms for Gaza was a huge blow to the progressive Democrats using USAID as a money laundering and funding vehicle. Most Americans were appalled by this clear waste of taxpayer money and the Democrats could not defend the expenditure or the preservation of the agency. Sadly, the next day Trump announces his intent to send the US military to occupy Gaza. His public relations “win” was immediately trashed.
Trump was elected to assert US interests at home and abroad not Israel’s national interests or the interests of any foreign state. Where our national interest coincide we can cooperate. Where we have no compelling national interest we should not be involved. Being allies does not require us to support every venture or initiative of our allies. For years Western European nations have been allies with the US on common defense (NATO) but we have often pursued dramatically different economic and social policies.
Israel often pursues interests which diverge from US interests. Remember Jonathan Pollard spying for Israel against the US? Remember the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty? Israeli transfer of advanced technology to China has been an ongoing sticking point from time to time in the US-Israel relationship.
The true test of friendship is how a friend behaves when you are suffering misfortune. When the Hamas attack on Israel occurred last year, the US quickly sent billions of extra dollars in aid to Israel. During his first week in office President Trump visited western North Carolina to see the widespread hurricane devastation and plight of the people. He commented on the inadequate response of the federal government and the need for significantly more support to house people and rebuild infrastructure from this extraordinary nation disaster. This begs the question, how much humanitarian aid has our closest allies (Israel, Europe, Japan, etc) sent to help Americans in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, South Carolina and northwestern Georgia? From what I have seen the answer is -— ZERO.
To make America great again we need to focus on the United States and its citizens, not people and nations an ocean away. These “allies” don’t care enough to help out when Americans are on their back. Why do we constantly deplete our treasury, and spill the blood of our soldiers, to help them?
I agree with most of your post. It also tells me that you really don’t understand Trump at all. He didn’t announce his intent to send troops he said “If that’s what it takes.” In response to a question from a reporter. I will predict here that Trump will never send any troops to Gaza.