"The Arab mind," "we really hammered the place," "the fence is here for your protection," "a heavy dose of fear and violence," and "we are here to help them" all evoke very American ideas of applying overwhelming power under the cover of charitable operations. A phrase like "the Israeli disease" obscures that.
=============
Yes.
I believe a more accurate term might be *occupation disease* since what's unfolding in Iraq is merely the most prominent recent example of a phenomena observed for many centuries:
* Invasion
* Resistance
* Counter-insurgency
* General repression of the populace *for the good* of non-combatants.
I remember reading Tacitus' accounts of Rome's long campaigns against Germanic tribes. He described Roman cruelty as necessary to correct the stubborness of these *barbarians* who lacked the sense to cooperate with their rescuers from primitivism.
Who wouldn't want the embrace of Rome after all?
The actions and attitudes described in the Times' article pre-date both modern Isreal and the US by millenia.
DRM