Earlier today I posted that amazing North Carolina retired Marine's Gaza analysis in the Times. One thing it says to me is that there is a potential Red-state/Blue-state alliance over Middle East policy: limpwristed blue-state idealists like myself who are being marginalized should reach out to smart, manly red-state realists who question the Iraq policy and are sick Israel's out-of-control behavior. Together we can reform policy. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, is emblematic of this coalition.
Another potential ally (recommended to me by Sid Smith) is retired Colonel Pat Lang, who was the first professor of Arabic at West Point. Lang stands out in National Journal's wonderful forum on "Whether the special relationship with Israel is a strategic liability to the U.S." (also notable for Michael Scheuer's slashing insights). Lang is a wonderful writer, and he has worked closely with the Israelis. Here are some of his dry observations. (All emphases mine):
It is not possible to "set aside the emotional and religious anchors of
the US-Israel alliance." Those are the principal bases of the alliance.
Israel’s welfare is a self assigned interest of the United States. That
does not make that interest less real, but it renders the interest a
"duty" of a spiritual and moral nature rather than the kind of thing
that a British PM meant in the 19th century when he supposedly said
that "countries do not have friends or enemies. They have interests."
That kind of interest confers an advantage militarily, economically,
geographically or in some other material way. The US interest in
Israel’s welfare does none of those things and it costs a lot of money.
The Israelis have been careful to separate "things" into neat
groupings. They have operated on the basis that their things are their
things and US things are their things. [Ha!] I was the principal officer in
the US military intelligence relationship with Israel for many years.
That was how the relationship worked. It was not a truly two-sided
arrangement. … it is
hard to see what Israel does for the US in the military field that is
worth the trouble that the relationship causes diplomatically with the
surrounding states. Israel does not contribute to the well being of the
US economy. In fact, in many high tech fields Israeli companies are
competitors of American companies. I will not dwell excessively on the
USS Liberty and Pollard incidents. Those events speak for themselves
and most Americans have long ago forgiven the offenses and chosen to
forget.
No, in the end, the US/Israel alliance is an affair of the heart. Such
affairs are not to be analyzed too closely on the basis of mere
material interests.
That last bit is straight out of Jane Austen. Now here is Pat Lang on his blog lately, about the Israeli attitude toward Palestinian civilians:
In Beit Suhur outside Bethlehem, I have seen IDF troops shoot at
Palestinian Christian women hanging out laundry in their gardens. This
was done with tank coaxial machine guns from within a bermed up dirt
fort a couple of hundred yards away, and evidently just for the fun of
it. In Bethlehem a lieutenant told me that he would have had his men
shoot me in the street during a demonstration that I happened to get
caught in, but that he had not because he thought I might not be a
Palestinian and that if I were not the incident would have caused him
some trouble. I have seen a lot of things like that. One might say
that in war, s–t happens. That is true, but such behavior is
indicative of an army that is not well disciplined and not a completely
reliably instrument of state policy. In my travels in the west Bank in
March of 2008, it was noticeable that the behavior towards Palestinian
civilians of IDF troops at roadblocks was reminiscent of that of any
group of post-adolescents given guns and allowed to bully the helpless
in order to look tough for each other. I think the IDF would be well
advised to grow some real sergeants.
specialized tools that reflect 20th century Zionist socialist and
nationalist ideals [I think that's an anti-Zionist comment!] and which have military traditions that are in no
way reflective of those of the United States.
