Vow, my previous post really needs some editing for grammar, style and spelling. Here it is again: Andreas has already made most of the points that needed to be made here. That Israel has been a US ally since its inception is something of a current myth. When Israel proclaimed independence in 1948, it was not certain of US recognition. Moshe Sharret went to President Truman and said that Israel would be independent only within the borders stipulated by the UN partition plan, whereupon Truman reluctantly agreed to recognize it. When Israel, in alliance with Britain and France, attacked Egypt in 1956, the US strongly objected to the adventure and forced Israel to withdraw. It was only after the Six-Day War in 1967 that the US political establishment started perceiving Israel as a close ally. This was due in part to Israel's perceived usefulness at keeping the Arab countries low and counter-balancing the Soviet influence in the region, but it also had a lot to do with the influence of the Zionist lobby at home, hence "irrational prejudice" in favor of Israel and against the Arabs had a big part to play even then. The usefulness of the alliance to the US, especially after the Soviet Union has disappeared, is not extremely obvious and it certainly lends itself to being questioned, as Andreas has done. O.K. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢ http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html