In that context, US support for Israel was a cheap hedge against soviet domination of middle east - everything else is secondary. Furthermore, that support came (and still does) with strings attached - almost all of it must be spent in the US (and I am sure some of it is/was specifically earmarked, even if it isn't official). So you also get to divert money to your military-industrial pals, get a bunch of right wing and jewish americans feeling good -- and get some investment in an anti-soviet force. Isn't that a good deal?
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what the US is doing in Iraq, both wars were much helped by Israel's experience fighting the soviet war doctrine (which is what iraqi defense/offense was based on; Israel had experience with it fighting Syria and at an earlier stage, Egypt).
Egypt - entirely US armed after 78
Iran - entirely US/British armed prior to 79
Iraq - a mix but very US-supported post-79 and a pariah to all post-91 (with a few covert non-soviet Russian arms).
Syria - Pragmatist dictator who never happened to line up with us.
Libya - The only case here where the leader actually had an ideological disposition towards the soviets (but only a little)
I agree with your take on the motivations for US aid at that time, though.
One other caveat, Israel did help train US forces but it was their experiences in Lebanon and Palestine that helped, not those with Syria and Egypt. Syria and Egypt had/have iraq-like armies of medium-quality gear and poor quality conscripts, that's conventional warfare. It was the nonconventional stuff that they helped train US troops for on the way to Iraq.
But I don't think I was overstating when I claimed
> Israel was the ONLY dependably-US friendly country in the middle east
Look at your own dates: that's 30 years (1948 till 1978) in which Israel was almost the only middle eastern country WITHOUT soviet influence -- and one that's strategically positioned near the Suez canal.
We are not in disagreement about the reasons, only about the magnitude.
Re: training experience - I've heard differently from people who were involved. "Conventional war" is still not a standard thing, and knowledge of your enemies' doctrine is golden. From what I heard, the whole Iraqi doctrine in '91 (where you put your defense tanks, how you back out when outnumbered, how you plan your battlefield supply chain, how you plan ambushes, etc) was almost exactly the same as Syria's '67, and getting all that info from the Israeli army made life much easier for the US Army.
(For all I know, this was self-glorification and/or disinformation from the Israeli side, but it was supported by supposedly knowledgeable US people I inquired with)
1. The Soviet Union from WW2 to the fall in 1990 never had diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were allied with the US certainly in the 1980s (possibly earlier?) and supported the resistance of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; and
2. The cooling of relations between the US and the Arab world did have--and still has--a lot to do with the US support of totalitarian regimes, including the Saudis. The US enjoyed strong relations with the Shah of Iran and then with Saddam Hussein in a proxy war with the USSR.
Only 2% of the US population might be Jewish but Jewish political support is significant for a number of reasons:
1. It affects what are now key swing states, most notably Florida;
2. The general political activism and even affluence of that population segment; and
3. The cause of Israel aligns with that of religious (Christian) conservatives, largely because of the Holy Land.
Bear in mind that the dynamic has changed. Modern US administrations virtually can't criticize Israel. Compare this to Eisenhower telling Israel to get out of Sinai.
Attributing this to the Cold War, instability of regimes in the Middle East and Soviet tendencies (IMHO) varies from disingenuous to factually inaccurate.
I'll buy that the religious right consider Israel a useful political tool, and that it fits the worldview of the people the religious right are trying to herd (I'm pretty confident most of the people calling the shots in the religious right are not particularly religious; it's just useful to them). But, I can't buy a Tea Party conspiracy that goes back 60+ years.
No. The comment above that the Cold War set the context for United States friendship with Israel has it right. When the Arab countries weren't as strongly aligned with the Soviet Union, United States policy didn't tilt nearly as much as it later did toward Israel. The 1956 Suez crisis is an instructive example.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/suez/suez.ht...
The United States urged Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw from their military intervention in Egypt to ensure international control of the Suez canal. In that era, the United States was nearer to a middle position regarding Arab-Israeli conflict than several of the European powers.
The Six-Day War (which I remember from childhood) was probably the high water mark of United States support for Israel, as it appeared that a badly outnumbered, and uniquely democratic, Israel was able to overcome surrounding hostile countries through valor and strategic brilliance. Since the 1980s, the United States relationship with Israel has had bipartisan support at the federal government level, but I think the American Baby Boom's visceral identification with Israel as a fellow democratic country has diminished considerably since then. The aftermath of the Arab Spring may be an increased balance in United States attitudes toward Israel and the Arab states.
I was merely pointing out that saying that the religious right are the cause of US support of Israel is obviously wrong. Your assertions about when US/Israel relations were at their peak are in agreement with my statements, since the religious right has only become a political force at the national level in the last 20 years or so, and your water mark events preceded that rise to power.
I was just pointing out the obvious wrongness of the comment above mine, not making any sort of political argument about US/Israel relations.
From Amazon: "Mearsheimer and Walt, political scientists at the University of Chicago and Harvard, respectively, survey a wide coalition of pro-Israel groups and individuals, including American Jewish organizations and political donors, Christian fundamentalists, neo-con officials in the executive branch, media pundits who smear critics of Israel as anti-Semites and the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which they characterize as having an almost unchallenged hold on Congress. This lobby, they contend, has pressured the U.S. government into Middle East policies that are strategically and morally unjustifiable: lavish financial subsidies for Israel despite its occupation of Palestinian territories; needless American confrontations with Israel's foes Syria and Iran; uncritical support of Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon, which violated the laws of war; and the Iraq war, which almost certainly would not have occurred had [the Israel lobby] been absent. The authors disavow conspiracy mongering, noting that the lobby's activities constitute legitimate, if misguided, interest-group politics, as American as apple pie. Considering the authors' academic credentials and the careful reasoning and meticulous documentation with which they support their claims, the book is bound to rekindle the controversy."
Being morally correct and helping people is a very strong American ideal - even when it's to the detriment of the country. And supporting Israel fits right in, even when it causes America trouble.
I don't see anything wrong with the Jewish people looking out for their interests, but as a scientifically-minded person I'm more interested in objective analyses of the situation (as in the mentioned book) than vague anecdotes like 'lots of people think that Israel is right'.
If American Jews are an order of magnitude more politically active than other groups, we shouldn't be ashamed to admit it. It's an interesting sociological phenomenon that needs to be studied.
