[WCUSP] "US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel" by Scott Ritter

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

> US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel
> by Scott Ritter
 
 
> December 17, 2007
> 
> 
> I have for some time now  publicly articulated my sympathy and support
> for the state of Israel,  even while criticizing those cases that I
> believed constituted poor  judgment and bad policy. My stance was based
> upon my past experiences  with Israel, which began indirectly in
> 1990-1991 when I was involved in  counter-SCUD activities during
> Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and  continued in a much more
> direct fashion as a weapons inspector with the  United Nations Special
> Commission (UNSCOM), charged with disarming Iraqi  weapons of mass
> destruction.
> 
> 
> 
> As a  weapons inspector I made numerous visits to Israel for the purpose
> of  coordinating with the Israeli intelligence community on matters
>  pertaining to Iraqi WMD. I was greatly impressed not only with the
>  professionalism of the Israeli intelligence services, but also with the
>  Israeli people and society. During my time in Israel, I was witness to
>  numerous horrific events, including several terrorist bombings and the
>  assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The resilience of the
>  people of Israel in absorbing these blows yet continuing to live life
> to  its fullest was remarkable, and worthy of admiration.
> 
> 
>  
> As a firsthand witness to the remarkable vigor of the Israeli state  and
> its people, and as someone who considers himself to be their friend,  it
> saddens me to see just how poorly the current Israeli  government
> returns this friendship, not to me personally, but to my  country, the
> United States of America. The government of Prime Minister  Ehud Olmert
> has embarked on policies that are questionable at best when  one
> examines them from a purely Israeli standpoint; they are nothing  less
> than a betrayal of the United States when examined from a  broader
> perspective.
> 
> 
> 
> The insidious  manner in which the current Israeli government has
> manipulated the  domestic political machinery of the United States to
> produce support for  its policies constitutes nothing less than direct
> interference in the  governance of a sovereign state. The degree to
> which the current Israeli  government has succeeded in this regard can
> be tracked not only by the  words and actions of the administration of
> President George W. Bush and  the American Congress, but also by the
> extent to which a pro-Israel  lexicon has taken hold within the
> mainstream media of the United States.  Witness the pro-Israel bias
> displayed when discussing the situation in  southern Lebanon, the air
> strike in Syria, or the Iranian situation, and  the retarding of any
> effort toward a responsible discussion of anything  dealing with Israel
> becomes apparent.
> 
> 
> 
>  One would expect such efforts to shape the domestic public opinion of a
>  state deemed hostile, but when the target of these Israeli actions is
>  its ostensible best friend, one must begin to question whether or not
>  the friendship is a one-way street. And if this is indeed the case,
> then  perhaps it is time for the United States to reconsider its
> decades-old  policy of strategic partnership with Israel.
> 
> 
> 
>  It must be understood that the government of Ehud Olmert is acting in a
>  post-9/11 environment, with considerable facilitators in the
>  administration of President Bush, including the vice president. These
>  two factors combine to create a cycle of enablement that allows a
> purely  Israeli point of view to dominate American policy. If the
> Israeli point  of view were built on logic, compassion, and the rule of
> law, then this  tilt would not constitute a problem. But the Israeli
> point of view is  increasingly constructed on a foundation of
> intolerance and  irresponsible unilateralism that divorces the country
> from global norms.  In this day and age of nuclear nonproliferation, the
> undeclared nuclear  arsenal of Israel stands as perhaps the most
> egregious example of how an  Israel-only standard destabilizes the
> Middle East. It is the Israeli  nuclear weapons program, including its
> strategic delivery systems, that  is the core of instability for this
> very volatile region.
>  
> 
> 
> The statements by Israeli officials concerning the  recent National
> Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran and its nuclear  program are perhaps
> the best manifestation of this reality. Avi Dichter,  Israel's public
> security minister, has condemned the NIE as a flawed  document, and in
> terms that link the American analysis to a  cause-and-effect cycle that
> could lead the Middle East down the path of  regional war. Like many
> Israelis, including the prime minister, Dichter  disagrees with the
> American NIE on Iran, in particular the finding that  Iran ceased its
> nuclear weapons program in 2003. The Israelis hold that  this program is
> still active, despite the fact that the International  Atomic Energy
> Agency (IAEA) has reached a conclusion similar to the  NIE's based upon
> its own exhaustive inspection activities inside Iran  over the past five
> years.
> 
> 
> 
> In  threatening the world with war because America opted for once to
> embrace  fact instead of fiction, Israel, sadly, has become like a
> cornered  beast, lashing out at any and all it perceives to threaten its
> security  interests. The current Israeli definition of what constitutes
> its  security interests is so broad as to preclude any difference of
> opinion.  Israel's shameless invocations of the Holocaust to defend its
> actions  not only shames the memory of those murdered over 60 years ago,
> but  ironically dilutes the impact of that memory by linking it with
> current  policies that are cruel and intolerant. The message of
> Holocaust  remembrance should be "never again," not just in terms of the
>  persecution of Jews, but in terms of man's inhumanity to man. The birth
>  of the Israeli state, as imperfect and controversial as it was, served
>  as a foundation for the pursuit of tolerance. However, Israel's current
>  policies, rooted in ethnic and religious hatred, are the antithesis of
>  tolerance.
> 
> 
> 
> Israel at present can have no  friends, because Israel does not know how
> to be a friend. Driven by  xenophobic paranoia and historical
> grievances, Israel is embarked on a  path that can only lead to death
> and destruction. This is a path the  United States should not tread. I
> have always taken the position that  Israel is a friend of the United
> States, and that friends should always  stand up for one another, even
> in difficult times. I have also noted  that, to quote a phrase well
> known in America, friends don't let friends  drive drunk, and that for
> some time now Israel has been drunk on  arrogance and power. As a
> friend, I have believed the best course of  action for the United States
> to take would be that which helped remove  the keys from the ignition of
> the policy vehicle Israel is steering  toward the edge of the abyss. Now
> it seems our old friend is holding a  pistol to our head, demanding that
> we stop interfering with the  vehicle's operation and preventing us from
> getting out of the car. This  is not the action of a friend, and it can
> no longer be  tolerated.
> 
> 
> 
> It is time for what those who are  familiar with dependency issues would
> term an intervention. Like a child  too long spoiled by an inattentive
> parent, Israel has grown accustomed  to American largess, to the point
> that it is addicted to an American aid  package that is largely
> responsible for keeping the Israeli economy  afloat. This aid must be
> reconsidered in its entirety. The day of the  free ride must come to an
> end. The United States must redefine its  national security priorities
> in the Middle East and position Israel  accordingly. At the very least,
> American aid must be linked to Israeli  behavior modification. The
> standards America applies to other nations  around the world when it
> comes to receiving aid must likewise apply to  Israel.
> 
> 
> 
> Let there be no doubt: Israel and its  considerable lobby of supporters
> here in America will scream bloody  murder if their aid is trimmed in
> any fashion. But in the greater  interest of what will best benefit the
> security interests of the United  States, and indeed the Middle East and
> the entire world, the grip Israel  has on American policymaking must
> come to an end. It is up to the  American people to make this change,
> first and foremost by recognizing  that a real problem exists in
> American-Israeli relations, then by  electing officials to Congress who
> will deal responsibly with these  problems based not on the
> behind-the-scenes lobbying of Israel and its  proxies, but rather the
> legitimate interests of the United  States.
> 
> 
> 
> If Israel decides it wants to be our  friend, then it will change its
> behavior accordingly. Absent this,  America has no choice but to declare
> its independence from a  relationship that has destroyed our credibility
> around the world and  drags us dangerously down the path toward another
> irresponsible military  misadventure in the Middle East. If, in the
> future, Israel desires to  reestablish a relationship with the United
> States built upon the  principles of mutual trust and benefit, then so
> be it. Such a  relationship is something I could embrace without
> hesitation. But one  thing is certain: no such friendship can truly
> exist under the  conditions and terms that are in place today, and for
> that reason the  entirety of the American-Israeli relationship must be
>  reexamined.
> 
> 
> 
> A former Marine Corps  intelligence officer, Scott Ritter was a chief
> inspector for the United  Nations Special Commission in Iraq from 1991
> until 1998. He is the  author of several books; "Target Iran," with a
> new afterword by the  author, was recently released in paperback by
> Nation Books.
>  
> 
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> 




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