The US Is Getting What It Wished For

IMRA quotes from an article in Geostratetgy-Direct (subscription required) that apparently the US is caught between getting what it demanded from Israel, while at the same time choking on the result:

The United States has harbored mixed feelings for Olmert and his predecessor, Sharon. President Bush has been pleased with Israel's
willingness to cooperate with the United States on virtually every major
issue, including Iraq, the Palestinians and arms exports.

At the same time, Bush and some of his aides have been quietly concerned over the image of Israel as a country ready to withdraw in the face of terrorism. Privately, leading aides and strategists believe that Israel's hesitancy to fight Hamas, Hizbullah and other terrorist groups could encourage Al Qaida and those sworn to defeat the United States. They also see Israel's failure to defeat Palestinian insurgents as encouraging Iran's belligerency.

The result is a new relationship between the US and Israel, and it is one that is probably going to make it that much more difficult for Israel to deal effectively with Hamas. It may also have a less than salutory effect on Israel's self-respect, which has already taken a terrible beating:

Bush's attitude toward Israel has changed as well. Until 2002, Bush saw
Israel has a powerful ally of the United States and able to deter its enemies. Today, the president sees Israel as weak and Bush has publicly pledged to protect the Jewish state from an Iranian attack. Quietly, Israeli defense officials dismiss Bush's pledge was little more than symbolic given the start of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

"The feeling in both the administration and among belatedly among many
conservatives in Congress is that Israel has to accept the fate of a small nation reliant on a superpower patron," a leading U.S. analyst who is close to the administration said.

But if the US really feels that Israel's cooperation with US demands weakens her image in the eyes of the Arabs and the world while undermining the US--that is not stopping the US from supporting more of the same kind of measures that are sure to continue Israel's slide, as the State Department supports Olmert's plans for a Disengagement from the West Bank.

Finally, the US recognizes that Israel's fight is her fight--yet out of a perverse uncontrollable habit continues support further Israeli concessions.

Technorati Tag: Israel and US and Bush and Middle East.