Posted on 03/07/2003 3:13:49 PM PST by Richard Axtell
There is only one nuclear power in the Middle East: Israel.
Thanks to Israel. Otherwise you could add Iraq, and by their association with Iraq, Syria, Libya, The Palestinian Authority, Al Aqsa, Hamas, Hezbolla, Islamic Jihad, and who knows who else who could come up with the cash to buy some kind of nuclear or radiological weapon from Iraq. Pakistan is now, and Iran may well be a nuclear power soon enough. So, Reese's statement is certainly not long for the "true column", and in light of the fact that Iran is rushing towards nuclear armed status, may not mean anything anyway.
There is only one country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Israel.
Again, thanks to Israel, see the previous paragraph for explanation.
There is only one country in the Middle East that refuses to allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities: Israel.
Huh, I guess you believe Saddam Hussein when he tells us all that he has abandoned his nuclear weapons program, and that Iran is not IN the Middle East, technically... it is in SW Asia. Ok...
There is only one country in the Middle East that stands in defiance of more than 60 United Nations resolutions: Israel.
If there were 100 such resolutions, most of which were passed with the intent to undermine the very existence of the State of Israel, who could thus blame them for defying such resolutions? If Israel WERE to adhere to any of the UN resolutions, I would think they might well be one up on virtually all other nations in the Middle East, notably Iraq.
There is only one country in the Middle East that invaded and continues to occupy land belonging to its neighbors: Israel.
If you think this is true, then you missed Middle Eastern History 101 more than a few times in High School. Syria rules and continues to occupy parts of Lebanon, for almost 30 years now. Iraq would occupy Kuwait and who knows what other lands, if it were not for Israel's ally, the United States. Don't even mention the UN, they did nothing but increase the suffering of the occupied people by wasting our time.
I am not setting out to bash Israel, but merely to point out undeniable facts that most of the America media and American politicians studiously ignore.
You are unfairly bashing Israel just the same, as I have easily proven above. And you must be talking about some other American media, because the leftist mainstream American media points out a similar list of "facts" and bashes Israel plenty often enough for anyone's tastes.
Is it too difficult for Americans to grasp that the United States has a blatant double standard and that the people in Arab countries justifiably resent that double standard?
Yes, and that double standard is best demonstrated by our politicians and media continuing to bash Israel for doing what we are doing; fighting the "War on Terrorism"... they are supposed to negotiate peace agreements with insane suicide bombers, which we seem to have decided would be an exercise in futility.
The Arabs do not expect or demand that the United States become the enemy of Israel. They recognize the close ties between the two countries. All they ask for is simple fairness.
The Arabs OBVIOUSLY care nothing for fairness, as that word does not seem to appear in their lexicon. They seek to destroy the close ties between the two countries, which is why so many Arabs are OUR enemies, whether you have realized it or not.
It's not fair to threaten Iraq with war for allegedly violating U.N. resolutions while protecting Israel from any consequences for violating more U.N. resolutions.
No, you seem to think that it is fair that Israel submit to national suicide, which adhering to most of the UN resolutions would inevitably lead to, and fair that Iraq ignore resolutions aimed at protecting Saddam's neighbors and the rest of the world from his deadly tendency towards aggression and sponsorship of terrorism.
It's not fair to go to war to undo the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq while condoning the continued occupation by Israel of portions of Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
Israel unilaterally gave up its occupation of a small strip of Lebanon, and was rewarded with more and more terrorism. While Syria continues its occupation of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, it refuses to negotiate in good faith with Israel, and so for now has lost its chance to bloodlessly regain the Golan Heights. Palestine has never been a sovereign nation, and will never be if it refuses to also negotiate in good faith with Israel, and abandon its determination to exterminate the Israelis. Do you think for one moment that Saddam's Iraq would even consider unilaterally withdrawing from Kuwait, if he were not driven out, as a motivation for negotiation towards peaceful coexistence with its neighbors? Have you even thought about that? No, I didn't think so, and that is not in anyway fair.
It's not fair to threaten Iraq and Iran about weapons of mass destruction while remaining silent about those possessed by Israel.
Which nation has attacked what other nation with SKUD missiles? And why didn't that country have the nerve to use its "Weapons of Mass Destruction" atop those terror missiles? Why? If it had nuclear weapons then, and Israel had none to act as a deterrent, would Israel even exist today? Who is being silent about which weapons?
It's not fair to harp on the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein while rationalizing the crimes committed by Israel. Do you realize that in just the past week, as of this writing, the Israelis have killed 33 Palestinians?
Would even one of those Palestinians have died were it not for the vicious and insane terrorist gangs that dominate the Palestinian people, and constantly and deliberately kill and maim innocent civilians? Would Saddam Hussein NOT have killed an estimated 2.5 million Iraqis, Iranians, Kurds, Shiites, Kuwaitis, and others if some country like the US had not opposed his bloody tyranny?
Do you realize that if the United States announced that its policy is to rid the entire Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, including those possessed by Israel, that the United States would receive the overwhelming support of the Arab world?
One word: Ha! You have got a lot to learn about the Arab world.
Fairness was once the characteristic of the American republic. It consists simply of doing exactly what our great founder, George Washington, recommended: treat all countries the same, showing neither favoritism nor enmity to any. Moreover, he pleaded, do not involve yourself in other people's feuds and quarrels. And finally, he warned against the evils of foreign influence in our domestic affairs.
George Washington was President of a young and sparsely populated new country that was isolated by thousands of miles of vast ocean and wilderness, at the the end of 18th Century. By 1803, we had already realized that the world would come and involve itself in our affairs, feud and quarrel with us, whether we liked it or not. Therefore, we subsequently dealt with the Saddams of that time, the Barbary Pirates. We should treat democratically based countries that only intend to defend their very existence that same, but we fall short on that. We should also treat brutal and corrupt authoritarian dictatorships and totalitarian states the same, but we seem to be failing in that area also... witness your moral equivalency between Iraq and Israel.
Every single foreign policy problem we face, including the threat of terrorism, is a result of violating those three admonitions: We don't treat all nations the same; we do involve ourselves in other people's quarrels; and we have allowed foreign influence to exert tremendous influence on our policies. Far from being the republic Washington and his contemporaries gave us, we have become an empire, very much like Rome.
So, we should treat the absurd Stalinist horror that is North Korea, the same as we treat our closest and dearest friend nations, like the UK and Australia? That would fix everything right up, is that it? Because we don't, is why we are like Rome, then?
There are nearly 40,000 permanent lobbyists in Washington, swarming over our 535 elected officials like flies on roadkill. We have the bizarre ritual of practically every candidate for president making a visit to the Israeli lobby and pledging undying support for a foreign country. While millions in Africa and Latin America suffer terrible poverty, not to mention 30 million of our own people, we pour billions of dollars of aid into Israel, which has a comfortably high standard of living. Again, foreign influence is the reason.
I also wouldn't mention those 30 million of our own people who suffer terrible poverty as in Africa and Latin America, because I would be accused of making an enormous and ridiculous exaggeration, just to make some polemical point, so I won't. Good thing you didn't mention it. And I notice that you also didn't mention the un-numbered permanent lobbyists in Washington that work for very powerful Arab Oil interests, which makes sense, as it would further undermine your already very flimsy premise: that Israel "runs" our government. Good thing you didn't mention it.
The truth is, we have no natural enemies except the North Koreans, who are taught from the cradle to hate us. Islam is not our enemy. The Arab world is not our enemy. Iran is not our enemy. Russia and China are not our enemies. Except for the North Koreans, the only enemies we have in this world are those we created with our unjust policies and actions.
The term "babe in the woods" comes to mind, in response to the absurdity of that last statement. I think that says it pretty well.
President Bush fancies himself a Christian. It's too bad he isn't, but then most Christians would not be recognizable to Christ if he returned to Earth. Peace, love and justice are not very fashionable in many Christian circles these days. Many of them prefer war, provided they don't have to fight it.
I really doubt that you fancy yourself as a Christian, horror of horrors. I also doubt you would fancy yourself as an anti religious bigot, but you have all the earmarks. President Bush has a burden and a responsibility few men can bear, and which you seemingly do not understand. He has taken a oath that he takes very seriously, to protect the people and Constitution of the United States of America. You have no such responsibility to distract you. He must lead, even if it means violating your jaundiced view of just what a Christian's duty might be. And he must fight the war, whether you understand that reality or not. He cannot hide behind a columnist's byline, and make idiotic, insupportable, and cowardly statements like that last one, and get away with it. By next week, you will still be making such statements, unless you somehow grow up and join the rest of us in the difficult, dangerous, and often irrational, real world that challenges us every day of our lives. Somehow, I don't think that will happen. It is just too comfortable for most who construct their own fantasy worlds to dare and face it. Not very fashionable, in Leftist-antiwar-antiChristian-isolationist circles, these days.
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