Israel has a formidable army, financed by us, they need not worry about losing their nuclear arsenal.

True_King on May 6, 2009 at 8:09 PM

I’m pretty disgusted with these jacka$$ comments about how Israel sucks the U.S. dry of money for their army. First of all, its for their defense. Secondly, Israel gets LOANS that it pays back. And finally, and most importantly, its NOT a one-way relationship. The U.S. gets its money’s worth and MORE:

Alright, the truth is the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is a two-way partnership. For example, in 1952, as the Cold War got started, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, Omar Bradley, called for the integration of Israel, which was only four years old, into the Mediterranean basin area in light of the country’s location and unique capability.
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In 1967, Israel defeated a radical Arab pro-Soviet theater offensive, which threatened to bring about the collapse of a pro-American Arab regime in the region, disrupt oil supplies, and thus severely undermine the American standard of living. The U.S. gained valuable military information from an analysis of the Israeli-captured Soviet equipment, including SAM 2, SAM 12, Mig 21 aircraft, Soviet T54 battle tanks. In fact, Israel gave an entire squadron of Mig 21’s to the United States, which was dubbed the “Top Gun Squadron” and was used by the U.S. Air Force and naval forces for training purposes.
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Since 1967, Israel [has] transferred captured Soviet weaponry systems to the United States Pentagon after every conflict: ‘67, ‘67-’70, ‘73, ‘82, 1990. They even transferred SCUD remnants from the Gulf War that had been fired on Israel, and the 2006 Hezbullah war against Israel, where they transferred missile components supplied by Iran, to the United States.
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In the 1967-’70 thousand day War of Attrition, The Israeli armed forces, armed with American aircraft successfully defeated a Soviet-suppplied air defense system, pointing out the deficiencies in Soviet air defense doctrine to U.S. defense planners. Israel shared captured military equipment, including a P2 radar, [for] which they stormed an island, Green Island, dismantled this two-ton radar and had it helicoptered, airlifted out, off the island, back to Israeli lines, and then they turned it over to the United States.

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In 1970, Israel brought about the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Jordan, at a time when the U.S. was tied up by wars in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, thus preventing the fall of the pro-American Hashemite regime and the installation of a pro-Soviet, radical Palestinian terrorist regime.
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In 1973, thanks to U.S. resupply, but without U.S. forces, Israel defeated Soviet-trained and equipped Egyptian and Syrian forces. Israel again shared captured Soviet equipment, including battle tanks, with the U.S. Israel emerged as the only reliable ally, where U.S. troops could land, where U.S. equipment can be prepositioned, where the U.S. has friendly port facilities in Haifa and Ashdod, in the entire Middle East region. This too has saved the United States billions of dollars. And the list goes on.

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In the 1970’s, Joseph Cisco, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, assistant to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during the latter’s “Shuttle Diplomacy,” told the Israeli author and military expert, and adviser to Menachem Begin, Shmuel Katz, quote, “I want to assure you Mr. Katz, that if we were not getting full value for our money, you would not get a cent from us,” end of quote. So this is a kind of off-handed manner in which they say, yes, the United States is benefitting from what they get from Israel.
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In 1981 Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, delaying Saddam Hussein’s quest for nuclear weapons. It thus provided the United States with an option of engaging in conventional wars with Iraq in 1991, when they liberated Kuwait, and in 2003. Just imagine if Saddam had the bomb and we went to liberate Kuwait, and in fact the past vice-president of the United States, Dick Cheney, [had] a photo in his office, I’m sure he took it with him, of the bombed out Iraqi reactor, to remind him of this invaluable service that Israel did for the Free World, not just for Israel.

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The vice-president of General Dynamics [Corp.], which produces the F16 fighter jet, has stated that Israel is responsible for 600, that’s six-zero-zero, improvements in the plane’s systems, modified by Israel to make the plane much better, and it is estimated to be worth, these modifications, billions of dollars, which spared dozens of research and development years for General Dynamics.

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In 1982 Israel destroyed Soviet anti-aircraft batteries in Lebanon that were considered immune to American weapons. Israel promptly shared that operation’s lessons, estimated to be worth billions of dollars, with the United States.

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Another item: Former Secretary of State and NATO commander Alexander Haig has stated that he is pro-Israeli because Israel is the largest Ameican aircraft carrier in the world, that [it] cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier and is located in a critical region for American national security.

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Next: During the first Gulf War, in 1991, Israel provided invaluable intelligence, an umbrella of air cover for military cargo, and had personnel planted in the Iraqi desert to pick up downed American pilots.
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Furthermore, General George Keegan, former head of the United States Air Force intelligence division, had publicly declared, quote, that “Israel is worth five CIA’s,” end of quote. He further stated that between 1974 and 1990, Israel received $18.3 billion in U.S. military grants. During the same period Israel provided the U.S. with $50 to $80 billion in intelligence, research and development savings, and Soviet weapons systems captured and transferred by Israel to the United States. In 2005 Israel provided America with the world’s most extensive experience in homeland defense in warfare against suicide bombers and car bombs. American soldiers trained in IDF facilities and Israeli-made drones fly above the Sunni triangle in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, providing U.S. Marines with vital intelligence.
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In September, 2007, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a Syrian/North Korean nuclear plant, extending the U.S.’s strategic arm. It provided the U.S. with vital information on Russian air defense systems, which are also employed by Iran. It bolstetred the U.S. posture of deterrence and refuted the claim that U.S.-Israel relations have been shaped by political expediency.

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In 2009 Israel shared with the United States its battle-tested experience in combatting Palestinian and Hezbullah terrorism, which are the role models of anti-U.S. Islamic terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, contrary to what the current administration labels as “overseas manmade disasters.”

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The U.S. GI’s benefit from Israel’s battle tactics against car bombs, improvised explosive devices, and homicide bombing. An Israeli-like ally in the Persian Gulf would have spared the need to dispatch U.S. troops to Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and unfortunately there is no other country. Israel has relayed to the United States, lessons of battle during the Cold War, Soviet military doctrine and counterterrorism, including aircraft security, homicide/suicide bombing, which reduce American lossses in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent attacks on U.S. soil, upgrade American weapons, and contribute to the U.S. economy. Without Israel, the U.S. would have been forced to deploy tens of thousands of American troops in the Eastern Mediterranean basin at a cost of billions of dollars a year.
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Senator Daniel Inouye [D-Hawaii] has recently, well a few years back, 2005, argued: “Israeli information regarding Soviet arms saved the U.S. billions of dollars. The contribution made by Israel’s intelligence to the United States is greater than that provided by all the other NATO allies of the United States combined,” said Senator Inouye.

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Israel’s utilization of American arms guarantees its existence, but at the same time, it gives the U.S. military industries, such as Boeing and General Dynamics, a competitive edge comared to European industries…while also…boosting American military production, producing American jobs and improving America’s national security.

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Japan and South Korea, for example, preferred the Hawkeye spyplane and the MD500 chopper, both purchased and upgraded by Israel, over comparable British and French aircraft.

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The American industries want the U.S. aid to Israel to continue. The bulk of that $1.8 billion in U.S. aid to Israel must be spent in the United States. That provides jobs for some 50,000 U.S. workers. Virtually all of the $1.2 billion in annual economic aid goes for repayment of debt to the United States, incurred from military purchases going back many years. This debt is now close to being liquidated, contrary to what some of our other allies still owe us. Don’t worry. The present administration wants to lend money to Cuba, which nobody in the world wants to loan money to.

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Innovative Israeli technologies have a similar effect on civilian and computer related industries and agricultural industries, which view Israel as a successful research and development model. Members of the Congress, then Vice-President Cheney and [former] Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld are aware of Israel’s unique contribution to our interest. But they all wonder why post-1993 Israel doesn’t use its impressive contribution as leverage, in sharp contrast to pre-1993 Israel. And that’s because the leftist government just wanted to show that they could make peace with the Arab terrorists that want to kill them.
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To conclude, what does Israel do for the United States? In contrast to our commitments to South Korea, Japan, Germany and other parts of the world, not a single American service person needs to be stationed in Israel. Considering that the cost of one service person, per year, including backup and infrastructure, is estimated to be about $200,000 per year, and assuming a minimum contingent of 25,000 troops, and we have much more in many of these places, the cost savings to the United States, on that score alone, are on the order of $5 billion a year. If anyone tells you Israel is a drain and we’re just pouring money into it and get nothing, tell them to take another swig of Koolaid and put their head back in the sand, because they don’t know the reality.

No other ally has done as much or sacrificed as much since the Cold War. Anyone who says otherwise is worse than Hitler.

Andy in Agoura Hills on May 6, 2009 at 8:26 PM

runner on May 6, 2009 at 9:07 PM

Yeah, there’s been a LOT of anti-semitic pr-cks posting here. (And yeah, anti-Israel = anti-semitic) I’ve beheaded most of them. The one a$$hole that just won’t go away though is Nonfactor. Of course, I think he drank WAAAAAAAAY too much kool-aid these past 8 years.

The material for that post came from Israpundit.com.

Andy in Agoura Hills on May 6, 2009 at 9:54 PM