"There Are No Gays In America"

Perhaps only that comment from the mouth of the US Secretary of Defense would have commended as much audience laughter as did his defense of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and claim that Israel, unlike Iran, did not seek to destroy its neighbors and did not support terrorism, in his speech at the Manama Dialogue Conference in Bahrain yesterday.

“Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbors. It has not shipped weapons into a place like Iraq to kill thousands of innocent civilians covertly,” Gates said, alluding to Iranian actions. “It has not threatened to destroy any of its neighbors. It is not trying to destabilize the government of Lebanon."

Really, Bob?

The irony here is multi-laired. For one, Mr. Gates is not a Bushie, he is seen as a member of the pragmatist generation of Bush 1 and Reagan, ironically, those pass for pragmatist in comparison to the neo-con ideologues, So you would think he would see things from a different perspective, and get off the high-horse of Israeli morality, and if he did not, he would tailor his presentation in a way that appeases his audience.

Second, Gates is a veteran of 70’s and 80’s when Israel was supplying arms and training to groups in Central and South America including drug cartels that the US was fighting with at the time. Not to mention separatist groups in Africa, Central, and South East Asia. Including fueling the blood-diamond trade by offering an international hub for them in Tel Aviv and paying for them with weapons that fueled more bloodshed.

More yet, people who read the news are well aware if Israel’s role in meddling in Lebanon’s politics including the most recent political crisis. Israel is committing a share of meddling in Lebanese politics that rivals those of Syria, Iran, France, and the US. And as if we needed a reminder, It went and invaded Lebanon, raining mass destruction only last year.

But more interestingly, that Mr. Gates is still sticking to the Bush doctrine of not allowing fact to impact decision making, reminding us all that in the path for bloodshed and war, there is no room for reflection and fact-contemplation. And that after the recent National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran had given up her nuclear program, Bush called for Iran to give up it’s nuclear program. WTF? And continues to argue how dangerous it is, and that “nothing has change.”