http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/08/opinion/.../08KELL.html?th


"Maybe we're all a little too desperate these days for a simple formula to explain how our safe world came unhinged. That, as much as anything, may explain one of the more enduring conspiracy theories of the moment, the notion that we are about to send a quarter of a million American soldiers to war for the sake of Israel.

This idea has received only fleeting attention in the mainstream discussion of our looming invasion of Iraq, and it would not deserve more except for three things: (1) The idea that this war is about Israel is persistent and more widely held than you may think. (2) It has interesting ripples in our domestic politics. (3) It has, like many dubious theories, sprouted from a seed of truth."


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Would bullying/assassinating all "contrarian" Arab leaders (including Hussein) make the world safer for Israel?

Any why?

Taking out the dictator in Syria, the pseudo government in Lebanon, and whacking Saddam would be a boon for Israel. (Oh, and getting rid of Arafat, who's grown as intransigent as Sharon.) So yes, getting rid of Saddam, at least in the short term, might help Israel. However, the anti-Israeli rhetoric that issues from throughout most of the Arab and Muslim world (especially, though in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc.) isn't going to change until Israel works out some sort of peace--PEACE--not imposed, but carefully and fully negotiated, with the Palestinians. Having the U.S. even more firmly planted in the region may help, but it could also backfire--not only against Israel, but against us. Yesterday, Sharon began seizing even more territory that he had ceded as part of the Oslo accords. This is only going to get much worse before it gets better. The Palestinian fanatics and hardliners have nothing to lose in increasing the suicide bombings now--except their lives, and those of innocent Israeli Jews and Arabs.

[Accidental double post.]

One added benefit for Israel (and all of Saddam's neighbors) is that if we can really get him to disarm peacefully, without a war, that means he'll be less wherewithal to attack them.

[ March 08, 2003, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]