Posted on 09/02/2003 6:46:28 AM PDT by SJackson
Even good ideas have their limits.
The belief in a strong American foreign policy whose purpose is to spread our values of freedom and democracy to the Middle East is one I subscribe to. But should the rationale that led to the American liberation of Iraq necessarily lead us to support the idea of sending American troops into "Palestine"?
According to a lot of the talking heads on television it should. The armed might of the United States can, they think, solve the Arab-Israeli conflict, and simultaneously burnish America's reputation in the Muslim world while guaranteeing Israel's security.
They argue that only American power can quash the terrorist groups that have turned President Bush's road map into a nightmare of bloodshed. Doing so would bolster the shaky regime of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and serve as a protective shield under which Palestinian democracy could flourish.
The only problem with this scenario is that it is almost certainly completely wrong.
The virtues of our ousting Saddam Hussein notwithstanding, the current difficulties American forces are facing in Iraq should leave us more, not less, cautious.
But even if the ultimate outcome of the situation in Baghdad is positive, injecting American GIs into the Israel-Arab conflict is another thing entirely. Not only are we incapable of creating a peace, the attempt would undermine Israel, the United States and the alliance between the two nations. Where did this cockeyed notion come from?
FROM THE 'TIMES' TO CONGRESS
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I bet they wish they had more targets.
We're a bit busy right now; trading American lives elsewhere, trying to invent an "image", instead of decisively beating a deadly enemy.
Let the Israelis handle the situation. They live there and have the means to do so. If they don't have the will, our sitting ducks with American flags sewn to their sleeves won't make any difference.
Putting our troops in the middle of this lunatic-fest will only cost us completely unneccesssary blood and treasure. We have enough places which genuinely demand our troops. This is not one of them.
Close. The idea would be to have U.S. troops between the Palis and Israelis. The palis then begin shooting over the "peacekeepers" at the Israelis prompting the IDF to respond and kill American troops in the crossfire (no doubt helped by the odd Pali shot as well, but of course the world media would blame it entirely on the IDF). This, they hope, would erode or destroy U.S. support for Israel.
Under NO circumstances should the U.S, fall into this trap. No way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.