"What has Israel done for us lately?" Have a seat, Mr. Redmond. This could take awhile.

Submitted by DrRJP (United States), Apr 7, 2008 at 13:32

Thank you. I've been waiting for someone to ask this question.

Before I begin, maybe you can tell me why folks like yourself never question our government's $1.8 billion annual aid to Egypt -- an enemy of Israel and Jews worldwide -- and $10 $billion annual aid to Saudi Arabia -- also, an enemy of Israel and Jews worldwide, but, more importantly, the greatest purveyor of worldwide Islamofascism?

Why does this Administration want to give $20 billion in advanced jet fighters and other sophisticated weaponry to Egypt -- home of the Muslim Brotherhood , and to Saudi Arabia -- home for fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers, and two countries with the worst human rights records?

While you're pondering that, let me tell you what we get back for our buck to Israel.

U.S. government aid to Israel is one of the most cost-effective investments that Americans make in support of their international interests. Why, you ask?

Because virtually the entire annual $1.2 billion economic aid is returned back to the United States in the form of debt repayment. Not only that, $1.325 of the $1.8 billion annual military aid must, by law, be spent in the United States, creating tens of thousands of American jobs.

As they say on TV, "WAIT, there's more!"

By comparison, U.S. expenditures in support of European allies in NATO are still many times the size of the aid to Israel. While the U.S. defense budget is divided functionally, not regionally, roughly 40 to 50 percent--or $80 to $112 billion--can be estimated to directly or indirectly support American defense commitments to Europe.

For instance, the $3 billion dollars recently guaranteed to Israel should be measured against the major threat to Israel's security from Iran, Syria, the Palestinian organizations and militant Islam. This aid dwarfs in comparison to the aid provided to European countries in World War II and again during the Cold War.

The cost of deploying 40,000 American troops at the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula far exceeds annual aid to Israel. Mobilizing U.S. forces in Europe twice in the past century — once against Nazism and then against communism — was unprecedented in the history of foreign aid.

Americans understood that the fall of Europe would bring about the same fate in the United States. This analogy explains the rationale for American support of Israel against extreme Islamists. The difference is that Israel has never asked for foreign troops to defend it — another reason aid is supported by the American public.

Israel as the only democratic country in the Middle East, and the most effective ally in the entire world to halt the expansion of radical Islam.

Israel is America's only, reliable ally in the Middle East, and is the only nation there that publicly declares is support for America.

Do you remember a few months back when we were able to intercept a falling satellite and blow it out of the sky -- proving the validity of a missle defense system?

Guess who developed the technology to do that: Israel. Israel had worked jointly with the US in developing the Arrow anti-missle system as well as the Boost Phase Intercept program and the Tactical High Energy Laser program, in which a high-energy laser beam mounted on an airplane can be used to knock out incoming missles.

Oh, and do you know about our "Secure Border Initiative?" This is the latest attempt by our government to use technology to secure its borders, stop smuggling, and prevent illegal immigration. The project was thrown open to bidders around the world. What was unique about this grant proposal was that Homeland Security gave the bidders total freedom to create new ideas of how to apply both new and old technology to secure the US borders.

Guess who won the rights to build it? Who knows more about protecting its borders against terrorist attacks?

Kollsman Inc., an American subsidiary of Elbit, an Israeli company. Elbit was selected because of its ability to bring together global resources with decades of technological experience and capabilities securing borders in extreme cold, mountainous regions, as well as hot, desert terrains

There are hundreds of other technological modifications and improvements in weapons systems that Israel has supplied to American armed forces, including those operating in Iraq.

What do our other, alleged allies in the Middle East offer us?

Let's take one of the other Middle Eastern countries that the US bankrolls: Pakistan. Pakistan's quality of life index is somewhere south of Haiti's, and is in worse shape than either North Korea or Burma. Yet the US has rewarded Musharraf's government with a 45,000 percent increase in US aid since 2001, upping assistance levels to more than $10 billion -- which is five times more than received by any other country (including Israel).

Has Pakistan helped us to find Bin Laden and made us safer from terrorist attacks, especially nuclear ones?

Is Hitler a humanitarian?

Not that long ago, Bush cancelled a $1 billion debt that Pakistan owes to America and instituted a new $3 billion military and economic assistance package to Pakistan, where its leader stands on very, shaky ground.

If anyone has bothered to pick up a book to read (instead of a blog) on nuclear proliferation, they would have learned that America not only turned a blind eye to Pakistan's nuclear bomb project for decades but had covered it up for imperative geopolitical reasons, even when Islamabad began trading its secret technology.

Right now, at least 17 of the worst Sunni terror groups banned by the US and the UN have been allowed to operate openly in Pakistan and launch recruitment drives, using flimsy cover-names, most of them operating within sight of the Pakistan military.

Pakistan's unsecured nuclear arsenal becomes increasingly more vulnerable as terrorists continue gain ground in Islamabad.

Did you know that the Pentagon considers Pakistan to be a greater nuclear threat to the world than is Iran?

I'd say, I want a President in the White House who will continue to fully support real allies like Israel rather than flaky ones like Egypt & Saudi Arabia.

And, my friend, that ain't Obama.

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