Probably because the addiction goes unquestioned in the U.S., which never demobilized from WW II. Bases in occupied countries such as Germany and Japan became permanent garrisons, just as wartime intelligence agencies became permamnent fixtures of the security state, and wartime weapons spending never stopped expanding during peacetime.

Western colonial outposts such as Israel were easily adopted into the U.S. global empire. And as with brutal caudillo rule in its former Latin American satrapies, the U.S. remains unconcerned about the harsh domestic policies of its client states.

NATO, whose treaty describes a European mutual defense pact, has reinvented itself to menace Russia's borders and immerse itself in a hopeless debacle in Afghanistan, with a fresh push from the newly-elected Democratic president. These policies occasion almost zero debate.

The U.S. mindlessly supports Israel because it is a bipartisan militarist nation which instinctively feels kinship with fellow militarists … particularly those with cabinet ministers such as Avigdor Lieberman, who can be 'as nasty as they wanna be' without fear or shame. This will never change as long as most voters are content to keep playing in the media-managed bipartisan sandbox, under the silent gaze of their discreet adult minders.

Americans need to be concerned is our mindless subsidization of the carnage and oppression, and our political linkage for no discernible good reason to a doomed crusader state. Persons of Jewish descent need to abjure the crimes that are being committed, supposedly in their name.

Except that nothing defines the corruption of America more than
Israel.

When both your government and media is so corrupted that there is no truth there isn't much left to do but a bloody revolution…I guess that will come last.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/418375/obama_rebuffs_israeli_hawk?rel=hp_picks

When I think about where we are now, it could have all been avoided if we had pursued alternative fuel research with a vengeance back in the 70s when the red flags went up. Instead, we coddled Saudi princes and built trucks and SUVs. Japan went for fuel efficiency and they will be building cars while we arrange bailouts.

None of this had to be. Without our dependence on the oil, pro-Israel American Jews would have had a much more difficult time ramming their agenda down our collective throat.

Bromwich's Huffpo piece on Rachel Corrie is excellent.

BTW, I agree that the U.S. has no moral high ground in the Middle East.

I have no fondness for American car companies. But I think they made an effort to build energy efficient cars. GM's electric car was beyond the technology of the time. It was incredibly expensive (GM would only lease them to customers at a steep loss). In the end GM couldn't afford to maintain the cars, which generally only got 70 miles or so per charge anyway.

Same thing with the GM Saturn. I remember all the type when GM decided to start manufacturing the Saturn. There was to be a new management style, feedback, consultation, a leveling of the hierarchical management pyramid. And in the end, I recently read, GM never made a penny off the Saturn. GM built big rear-wheel drive cars and pickups because that was where they made their money. When they tried to build small cars they went broke. I'm sorry for people who work for GM (my dad used to work there). But that's life. Companies, like countries, constantly rise and fall. GM's time has come and gone. And America's will too, probably faster than we think.