If there is a scintilla of good news from the Lebanon horror, it is that no rational being can continue to deny the Israel lobby's awesome sway -- aided, of course, by the supreme tractability of the American people. I just read a post here by Jerry Monaco taking Wojtek to task for comparing people in general to sheep. I agree that this is an unfair comparison, since in the case of Americans it is quite insulting to sheep. Sheep at least have some volitional capacity; USers seem to have none. Presented with a force field like the Israel lobby, Americans just line up like iron filings in the desired pattern.
[WS:] Some say it is Israel that influences US politics, other say it is the other way around. Obviously, we have no way to test either of these propositions, but it seems to me that there is a third, more plausible, possibility - that the relationship is, to use the language of causal logic - spurious. That is to say, while there seem to be a correlation between the two, suggesting causal connection between them, it might well be that the only connection is that both are caused by a third factor, which creates a spurious correlation.
My candidate for that third force, without sounding too conspiratorial, is the same unholy alliance that brought us the neo-liberal revolution - assorted rich, hardliners and stakeholders in the energy sector and the military industrial complex. The _Canadian Bacon_ writ large, if you will.
Another thought - I think that, contrary to popular beliefs, Americans have no more influence on US politics than citizens of any other country (say, x-USSR) can influence their own politics - which means the level of influence that is close to nil. The main difference is that Americans seem to be more willing to voluntarily engage Potemkinesque patriotic spectacles showing "popular support" for these policies. In other countries people must be prodded with police batons, for otherwise they would go about their own business and stay out of the patriotic fervor altogether.
Wojtek