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Wednesday, January 15, 2003

This article shows that Bush is using war with Iraq to increase support for Israel. Hundreds of American soldiers are now in Israel for joint manuevers with anti-missile defenses, ostensibly to help protect Israel from Scud attacks by Iraq. These joint maneuvers can't possibly be seen by the Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world as anything but a slap in the face and a deliberate show of taking sides in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

And, of course, if some US soldiers get killed by a suicide bomber, there will be demands for even more direct support for Israel. On the other hand, an IDF bomb or shell killing American troops would be seen as an unfortunate accident.

This is why I think it doesn't matter much at this point whether peace advocates think that stopping support for Israel is more important than stopping war in Iraq or vice versa--a topic which has been hotly debated by a few members of the Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace in recent weeks. War in Iraq will make things even worse for Palestinians. If Israel does become involved, either due to an attack by Iraq or on its own, I have no doubt that W will greatly increase our already huge support, since Israel would then be "our valiant ally in the war against weapons of mass destruction," ignoring as always that there are many more WMD's in Israel than there could possibly be in Iraq at this point.