As I had always believed but G. Will said better than I could, "There would be no Desert Storm had it not been for the Israeli raid on the Iraqi nuclear installations ten years earlier."
It was a short act, not a war, so it was quicly forgotten. BUt the Isralis plains, in a daring raid, flew to Iraq and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear facilities. What would we do in 1991 if Iraq still had them? Absolutely nothing. ANd only G-d knows what we would have on our hands as a result. In the very least, $5-per-gallon gasoline, which would destroy the world economy. Instead, we had an unparalleled prosperity and expansion in the 1990s.
Israel also pays back in what we do not see: how many wars that damage our, Western interests would have occured if it were not for the deterrence that the presence and strength of Israel provides?