Israeli lobby

[Mark Bennett]

Well, just be thankful you've never understood the quote.  After all,
consider the speaker (although for Jesse it represents fairly deep strategic
analysis.)

-----Original Message-----
From: Seth Ackerman [mailto:sethia at speakeasy.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 6:13 AM
To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Subject: Re: Israeli lobby

One doesn't have to search too hard to find out why the U.S. supports
Israel. Senator Jesse Helms, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman from 1995
to 2001, put it succinctly in the Middle East Quarterly in 1995: "Israel is
at least the equivalent of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East.
Without Israel promoting its and America's common interests, we would be
badly off indeed."

 . . .

---

I've never understood this quote. The US has several actual aircraft
carriers in the Middle East. Why would it need the equivalent of one?

Seth