Yep, should have been without although I am not sure it traces back to any sexual aberration.
Maybe you should first consider stop footing the Chinese defence bill by buying $300 bln-worth of merchendise from them,
That is a subject all by itself with good arguments on both sides. I will be happy to discuss it but that is not the subject at the moment.
... and then, maybe, consider stopping selling weapons to muslims that eventually will kill the Americans. Ah, whatever.
The US has see-sawed on both sides of this issue since the beginning. We first had to assure Israel's survival since we had helped create them and secondly they were the only democracy in that area. We were in the beginning of the cold war with the USSR arming the Arabs and us arming Israel. We are actually in a continuation of that at the moment. The left has always used surrogates to fight us rather than confront us directly.
It is obviously a mixed bag over there with allegiances changing constantly and policies shifting accordingly. Shortly after Carter allowed the Ayatollahs to overthrow the Shah, Iraq invaded Iran. We preferred Iraq under the circumstances and helped arm them. As an example of shifting allegiances, we invaded them after they invaded Kuwait.
Our alliance with Saudi, Kuwait, Egypt, and many others in the area have also been based in the cold war era and shifted over time due to changes over there.
To those who point out that Saudi supports the terrorists and that we support the Saudi leadership should not take such glee in pointing out the seeming hypocrisy. The world runs on oil. We run on oil. The Saudis and their neighbors sit on most of it. The cold war is still being fought and the Communists are still using surrogates, this time the Islamists. We can't successfully invade and occupy Saudi and wouldn't if we could. We aren't that practical.
So the area must be managed as best it can be under the circumstances. Bill Clinton mismanaged it and Bush is trying to not only straighten that out but to also make bold moves to transform the entire area.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is central to all that. The Arabs and terrorists use Israel as their excuse and rallying cry to keep the historic conflict boiling. That keeps us tied to that, spending lots of money and time best spent elsewhere. It would be nice if Israel would show a little more appreciation.
This is a good analysis. But I would not agree that Israel is not showing support. But consider Israel's situaltion. She has lost so much blood over recently, both figuratively and literally and keeps on loosing it. The economy has been down the drains with all the terrosism, boycots by governments, churhes and universities. The country is jumping on every opportunity to earn an extra buck. However, if push comes to shove, she will never geopardize its relationship with the US. But, please, give the country a break. It's been cornered and is just trying to survive.
"To those who point out that Saudi supports the terrorists and that we support the Saudi leadership should not take such glee in pointing out the seeming hypocrisy. The world runs on oil. We run on oil. The Saudis and their neighbors sit on most of it. The cold war is still being fought and the Communists are still using surrogates, this time the Islamists. We can't successfully invade and occupy Saudi and wouldn't if we could. We aren't that practical."
I take no joy. It makes me sick. It is a holdover from Pres Bush 1 Arabist realism. And it is contra to the current President's stated aims and a clearly failed policy of appeasement. That policy got us 15 of 19 attackers on 9/11. That policy continues to placate the number one supporter and exporter of Jihad in the world.
What is the point of draining the swamp in Iraq if the swamp is allowed to grow in SA?
What would happen if we took a hardline with SA? Can they drink their oil? If they don't sell it to us they will sell it elsewhere thus freeing up another supplier. The Arab Oil boycott is not possible today. They can't afford it and are not unified anymore. We are propping up a doomed, corrupt regime that foments anti-US jihadism to stay in power.
As to our not being able to invade or occupy SA, why not? Not saying we should but we certainly could. Sometimes I think our bail out of Kuwait and SA in Gulf 1 was a huge strategic error.