[Valin]

And did Britain come whining to Congress, insisting that we pay for their war?
They came and asked for our help, just as Israel does when they buy our weapons. A small price to pay to support the only democracy in the area.

While -- at the same time -- Britain eavesdropped on our elected officials, stole military and technological secrets and then sold them to the the USSR and China?
Hello anybody home? Welcome to the real world, EVERYBODY spys on EVERYBODY, You don't think that the SIS dorsen't spy on us and the CIA doesn't spy on the Brits? As to Israel selling our secrets to other countries I have never and will never say that they are angels, or that they always are right. Just that they have the right to exist, something are large part of the world disagrees with.

[dlt]

Valin, I support Israel's right to exist. Very much so. But it should not be at the expense of U.S. national interests or its taxpayers.

In my opinion, if the U.S. wasn't playing the role of big Momma, bailing out Israel at every turn and turning a blind eye to what really goes on over there, then Israel would be forced to reach some true accommodation with the Palestinians.

I don't even think we should just "drop" Israel, but if we are going to keep dumping cash into that country, and sell weapeons to it indiscriminately, then we also have a responsibility to see that Israel behaves like a rational state and starts negotiating in good faith. This means Israel cannot have everything it wants, i.e., settlements need to go.

The best favor we could do for Israel is to force that country to grow up and eventually wean itself from the American taxpayer.