It wasn’t that long ago that a gang of Hamas terrorists from Gaza carried out a surprise attack on the neighboring country of Israel, killing 846 civilians and 416 soldiers and police officers, and kidnapping 240 civilians before they returned to Gaza.
Imagine, for a moment, that an organized platoon of Mexican drug cartel goons crossed the border and killed 1,200 Americans. What do you think our response would be? Let’s face it, negotiating would be out of the question, politically, and the U.S. would rain holy hell down on the perps, even if they were hiding out in Mexico.
The unprovoked attack by Hamas was reciprocated by the State of Israel with a massive aerial bombardment and a coordinated Army ground campaign that continues to this day. The Israelis are committed to rooting out the Hamas terrorists, who have been hiding in underground tunnels for years. The sliver of ground called Gaza has suffered a slow-motion obliteration since October… with no end in sight.
Other than their sucker punch, Hamas’ main offensive weapon has been an international public relations campaign designed to cast the Israelis as aggressors and the Gazan people as innocent bystanders. This effort has borne fruit, as even the United Nations has pleaded for the Israelis to back off. A day doesn’t go by when there are not news stories about innocent Gazan bystanders getting caught up in the ground war. As the saying goes, “War is hell”, and the people of Gaza should be blaming the Hamas thugs, not the Israelis, for their misfortune.
One thing is for sure: Israel will do what is in Israel’s best interest. The last thing that they want is the impression that any terrorist group or neighboring country can wreak havoc on their country without having to pay a very steep price. This latest terrorist attack on Israel is tantamount to that country’s 9/11, and we can all remember how enraged and vengeful America got when that atrocity went down.
This latest Middle Eastern tempest puts the United States in an awkward position, as America is Israel’s strongest defender and supplies that country with billions of dollars of foreign aid annually (mostly for military hardware and technology) to keep its Islamic tormentors at bay. Predictably, Arab Americans are not happy and antisemites within the U.S. are using the conflict to justify their own terror campaign within our country.
Thus, the U.S. is getting a P.R. black eye internationally and domestically while Israel is wiping Gaza clean of the bad guys. The Biden Administration is trying mightily to de-escalate the tensions, but Israel is intent on sending a strong message: “You kill 100 of our people and we will kill 10,000 of yours.”
I can’t blame them, but it sure puts Joe Biden in a tough spot. If he helps Israel, then Arab Americans will resent him as will our home-grown antisemites. If he sides with the clamor to stop the carnage for humanitarian reasons, then the large Jewish voting bloc, which typically votes Democratic, will not support his reelection.
Still, I’m not keen about the United States continuing to backstop the State of Israel. They are a strong country and can defend themselves with high tech weapons systems, the world’s premier intelligence service, and nuclear weapons, if it gets to that. Why should it be our duty to defend them?
There are some 180 countries in the world. Some are huge, some are tiny, and all of them need to defend themselves from bad actors. The idea of America being the “world’s policeman” is an outdated Cold War concept that has only gotten the U.S. in hot water in the past fifty years. Alliances have changed, economic growth has blossomed, and technology has, somewhat, leveled the playing field. America isn’t the superpower it once was, with the ability to throw its weight around willy nilly.
During the last month, another Iranian-supported terrorist organization called the Houthis (in Yemen) have been shooting missiles toward far-off targets in Israel and also shipping in the Red Sea, doing their part to annoy Israel and its international supporters. The objective is probably to suck America deeper into the Middle Eastern morass and make Joe Biden’s job impossible. A coalition of countries including the U.S. has organized a seaborne force to protect shipping in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal from Houthi harassment.
It’s a no win situation for America, just like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
Question: Why should the U.S. support thriving nations like Israel, Taiwan, and South Korea? They are vestiges of the aftermath of World War II, which ended over 70 years ago. Why do we need to put them under our protective umbrella? Shouldn’t they succeed or fall under their own steam just like all other countries do?
Why does the U.S. still have combat troops on the ground in the Middle East? The area is anti-democratic and populated, for the most part, by Islamic peoples who hate America and want to do their own thing. Shouldn’t we leave them to their own fate? What gives us the right to tell them how to govern their country? They can plainly see the problems that are inherent in our democracy; heck, we can’t agree on anything over here. If they want to live in a theocracy, who are we to judge?
Why do we need to spend billions to defend European countries? If the U.S. got out of N.A.T.O., it is likely that the other members of the alliance would get more serious about their own defense and kick in more money for military hardware. Basically, at this point, the only threat to these countries is Russia, which is a shadow of its former self and can’t even handle Ukraine.
A problem with all of this is that the leaders of both political parties in America are relics of the Cold War. They grew up worrying about World War III, in particular against those Communist bullies, the U.S.S.R. and China. Realistically, neither one is in a position to attack America directly without catastrophic consequences, and neither Putin or Xi are that stupid.
If the U.S. was to discontinue foreign aid to our erstwhile “allies” and let everyone fend for themselves, hundreds of billions of dollars would be freed up to do worthwhile things within our own country, like feeding the homeless, repairing infrastructure, improving education, and lowering the cost of medical care for needy segments of our society.
We would still have the strongest military in the world and could take care of ourselves if any state actor or terrorist group decided to attack us.
Maybe we should give disengagement a shot, as the current model (protecting a small subset of nations) is destined to bring us into conflict with others.
It’s something to think about.