steve%revolver@gatech.edu (12/15/89)
From: steve%revolver@gatech.edu
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xx Q U E S T I O N xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It is often said by our representatives in government, lobbyists for
the state of Israel, etc. that Israel is strategically important to the
security interests of the United States. This claim is never supported by
any concrete evidence. When attempts are made to justify the claim, they
often center on intelligence activities carried out by the MOSSAD in Arab
countries whose hostility to the US is based, in part, on our support for
the state of Israel. This kind of circular reasoning is not a good basis
for a nation-state's dealing with its legitimate security interests.
I would like some of the people here who are familiar with the kinds of
strategic military interests that the US has all over the globe, to explain
to me in ways that have nothing to do with politics, what is important about
Israel to our military/geo-political interests.
*** The preceding statements represent the opinions of the author. ***
They must not be interpreted as representing the beliefs of any
other person, institution, government agency, or business entity. amos@decwrl.dec.com (Amos Shapir) (12/18/89)
From: nsc!taux01.nsc.com!amos@decwrl.dec.com (Amos Shapir) Basically, Israel's importance stems from its proximity to the Suez Canal, and its ability to function without it. During WWII, the port of Haifa was used as a back up to the port of Alexandria in Egypt which was in danger of being taken by Rommel. It was also the only friendly port to the US 6th fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean during most of the 60's and 70's, when Egypt and Syria were under Soviet influence. During the times when the Canal was closed (1967-79) Israel operated a 'land bridge' from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israel is also one of the few stable western-oriented countries in south-west Asia. -- Amos Shapir amos@taux01.nsc.com, amos@nsc.nsc.com National Semiconductor (Israel) P.O.B. 3007, Herzlia 46104, Israel Tel. +972 52 522261 TWX: 33691, fax: +972-52-558322 GEO: 34 48 E / 32 10 N
sampson@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Steve Sampson) (12/18/89)
From: sampson@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Steve Sampson) Well I'm no expert but a little geography shows that Israel and Egypt are important for their passage of oil to the med. (thence to Europe). We could bypass the suez I guess. One thing sticks in my mind is how Egypt allowed the Klinghoffer murderers to escape their country. This was (the interception) probably brought about by US stations as well as Israeli intellegence. The importance of Israel to the US is that of a friend in the middle of enemies. Sure some take our money, and are nice; but given a chance, they would side against us. Israels problem though is they don't trust us 100% They think we might sell them out. This has led to the attack on the Liberty (Pueblo's sister ship) and spying incidents.
cramer@Sun.COM (Sam Cramer) (12/20/89)
From: cramer@Sun.COM (Sam Cramer) [ Moderator: I am sending this to you directly, because I once had a problem with unauthorized approval of a submission of mine to sci.military. Also, this may be in the forbidden region of politics - use your discretion. -- Sam ] In article <12397@cbnews.ATT.COM>, sampson@attctc (Steve Sampson) writes: >... >but given a chance, they would side against us. Israels problem though is >they don't trust us 100% They think we might sell them out. This has led >to the attack on the Liberty (Pueblo's sister ship) and spying incidents. Without trying to ignite the annual US Liberty flame-fest, let me point out that there is good evidence that the Liberty was attacked mistakenly. There was an excellent article on this subject about 2 years ago in the "Atlantic Monthly." If anyone is interested, I'll try to dig up the reference. Sam