Friday, June 17, 2011

Is Obama Giving Israel All These Arms Because His Policies Will Make Israel Need Them?

"In fact, this administration, under President Obama, has done more in two years for Israel's security than any administration in the past. So we not only talk about Israel's security, we have delivered and will continue to deliver," she said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

I'm not sure exactly Clinton is measuring Obama's first 2 years against past administrations--is she comparing 2 years of Obama with 8 years of President Bush?

In any case, George Gilder makes the point that we need to take into account the measures being taken by the US against Israel's security:

Untethered from what had been the paramount American goal of deterring an attack on Israel and defending it against the common enemy, U.S. strategy has slid into total incoherence, drifting from a futile and deadly funambulism among the tribes of Afghanistan to propping up the Lebanese Army (i.e., Hezbollah) with sophisticated night-fighting gear to be used against no other target than Israel, and enhancing the Palestinian police forces with $100 million in new equipment and training assistance, all the while pretending to the overwhelmingly pro-Israel American electorate that it is, in fact, guaranteeing the military superiority of Israel. This feckless and reckless attempt at a "fairness doctrine" balancing act places the United States and the entire Middle East on a path that can only lead to a new war that such a Janus-faced policy, in which America arms both sides, will make at once more likely and more lethal.
One might argue that arming Hezbollah and continuing the policy of training and arming a Palestinian police force might not be in Israel's best security interests.

The problem, of course, is that the Obama administration would be more credible in taking credit for what it has done for Israel if not for the fact it has been bragging about this for a while.

The spokesman for the State Department tried back in November 2009 to brag how much more Obama had done for Israel in one year than Bush in 8 years--with embarrassing results:
QUESTION: You mean you got the Israel Government to say, yes, we’re willing to accept a Palestinian state? You got Netanyahu to say that, and that’s his big accomplishment?
MR. KELLY: That is an accomplishment.
QUESTION: But previous Israeli administration – previous Israeli governments had agreed to that already.
MR. KELLY: Okay, all right.
QUESTION: So in other words, the bottom line is that, in the list of accomplishments that Mitchell has come up with or established since he started, is zero.
MR. KELLY: I wouldn’t say zero.
QUESTION: Well, then what would you say it is?
MR. KELLY: Well, I would say that we’ve gotten both sides to commit to this goal. They have – we have – we’ve had a intensive round or rounds of negotiations, the President brought the two leaders together in New York. Look --
QUESTION: But wait, hold on. You haven’t had any intense --
MR. KELLY: Obviously --
QUESTION: There haven’t been any negotiations.
MR. KELLY: Obviously, we’re not even in the red zone yet, okay.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. KELLY: I mean, we’re not – but it’s – we are less than a year into this Administration, and I think we’ve accomplished more over the last year than the previous administration did in eight years.
QUESTION: Well, I – really, because the previous administration actually had them sitting down talking to each other. You guys can’t even get that far.
MR. KELLY: All right. 
QUESTION: I’ll drop it.
Maybe the Obama administration would be more credible about its claim of doing the most to support Israel's security if wasn't undermining Israel.

Why does it seem that the Obama administration is giving Israel all these arms because it knows that it is putting Israel in the position where they are going to need them?

Technorati Tag: and .

No comments: