Asherman
Quote: is justified in seeking to protect itself against a madman on her borders.
You were speaking of Iran of course, but it's a good point and applies with we Canadians as well.
You continue to speak as if present Iraq is the same threat as it was before the Gulf War. That's not anywhere close to being an accurate reflection of reality, even before the inspection routine recommenced. Perhaps you hope it serves some rhetorical purpose but it is so obviously exaggerated that its inclusion does consistent damage to your arguments. It's the sort of mental shortcut that dogma always evidences. You ought to know better than to make moves like that.
Regarding Israel...as a favored client state of the US, there's really little she can do wrong. Unless she were to lose her favored client status of course, like Sadaam. That's unlikely, given she is a proxy for US hegemony in the coincidentally oil-rich middle east (and because of a certain reality about votes back home) and therefore she can do all the nasty things she is doing (say, like ignoring UN resolutions) but they aren't nasty.
But let's imagine this possibility...the US goes in and takes control of Iraq, which of course, is what will happen (freeing the downtrodden Iraquis as rationale for much of anything the US administration is doing is laughable, though it is clearly a moral and honorable desire on the part of citizens here in the West). Then the (unlikely) stabilization of Iraq follows. But along with that, Egypt and Saudi Arabia begin to teeter as Muslim anger builds. Terrorist attacks mount and administration officials conclude that it's that pesky Palestinian problem at core. By now, of course, that whole issue has gone quite ignored as the press goes yippee for the razzle dazzle weapons of war and otherwise fills their news content with puppies trapped on ice flows and press releases from the White House pretending to be commentary, and Palestine is now an Israeli sub-division.
Israel is a client state because it effectively serves as one in an important area. That it is democratic is not terribly relevant, as evidenced by all the murderous authoritarian regimes the US has and does support. Of course, this part is the stretch, but if Iraq were to become a point of stability for the US in the middle east, Israel's function and importance would change. And if she were perceived (re the Palestinian problem) as causal, then suddenly administration officials would start to talk about those UN resolutios, about the maltreatment and murder of downtrodden Palestinian peoples.
Humbug.
