On 2010-03-15, at 10:53 AM, Robert Naiman wrote: > I don't know about all you commiepinkos, butI believe we should Support Our > Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Petraeus, Admiral Mullen, and > Vice-President Biden say that Israel's actions toward the Palestinians are > putting our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq in danger. That's why, to Support > Our Troops, the U.S. government must effectively pressure Israel to end its > military occupation of the West Bank. And one thing every American can do to > Support Our Troops is to shun products from companies linked to the Israeli > occupation. > > In January, Foreign Policy reports, CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus > sent senior military officers to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. > Michael Mullen on the perception of the U.S.' Arab allies that the U.S. was > failing to pressure Israel to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: > > The briefers reported that there was a growing perception among Arab leaders > that the U.S. was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM's mostly > Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, that Israeli > intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. > standing in the region, and that Mitchell himself was (as a senior Pentagon > officer later bluntly described it) "too old, too slow ... and too late." > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/support-our-troops-boycot_b_499001.html ========================= Thanks for the reference to the Foreign Policy piece illustrating what appears to be a growing contradiction between US military interests in the region and unconditional support of Israel. It is well worth reading in full through your link. The reference to including the Palestinians under the US umbrella through CENTCOM, and the Yedioth Ahronoth account of Biden's angry exchange with Netanyahu, suggests there are pressures bearing on the administration other than the overwhelming pro-Israel ones emanating from Congress.
I don't "support" US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, BTW, and don't understand why you would encourage this as a slogan. It was one thing for US liberals and radicals to march behind banners declaring "Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home Now" during the Vietnam War, quite another to support them in their role as an occupation force in these countries. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
