On Mon, 3 Mar 2003, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> Israel's military usefulness to the US is not limited to the Middle
> East. In two of the worst examples -- campaigns in which the US
> government was hampered by political pressure at home -- Israel carried
> out the bidding of its patron. In the 1970s, at the request of the
> Carter administration, Israel transferred war-planes to Indonesia to aid
> in the suppression of the East Timorese, a massacre comparable to those
> in Cambodia. In the 1980s, Israeli military advisors aided the Reagan
> administration in genocidal campaigns in Guatemala (for which Clinton
> later apologized, with monstrous inadequacy).
It is true that Israel has done slimy favors for the US. But are they worth 3 billion dollars a year? No. They're worth about zero dollars.
There are three questions you need to ask about events like these:
1) Is this really something the US couldn't have done on its own?
2) Is this something Israelis wouldn't have done for the US even if they weren't getting $3 billion a year? I.e., if they were only getting the normal arms for loans we give half the countries of the world?
3) Is this something that is still important with the end of the cold war?
If the answer to any of these questions is No, then the example doesn't support your argument, no matter how shocking it may be on its own. And usually, as in the above case, you'll find the answer to all three is No.
The US gave Indonesia all kinds of military assistance before, during and after the invasion of East Timor. This plane transfer was a minor finesse and one we could have launched through any other ally. In the case of Guatemala, do you really think the US needed instruction in how to turn Latin America into a torture chamber and charnel house? And for that matter, why do you think Israeli mercenaries wouldn't have worked for us on a contract basis? They did for every other bastard regime in the world. Mercenaries are like that.
This argument by iteration doesn't hold any more water than the argument by citation (i.e., that Jesse Helms thinks it's true).
Michael