Shusss....

I've always been pro-Israel, for just about as long as I was able to read, and learned about the Holocaust. Even during the time of second intafada,I figured that Israel was surrounded by crazies, and had every right to defend itself, and that the only way you could combat people willing to send children loaded with explosives into a crowded cafe or bus stop to end their young lives and the lives of civilians, was to be just as crazy and brutal as those who sent children to paradise with promises of sainthood and as many virgins as they could handle. I thought that the Israelis were the good guys, the brave underdogs who faced danger at every shopping mall, and every bus stop.

That was before Rachel Corrie was bulldozed by the Israeli army.

My sister who is pretty conservative and lives in Indiana said to me a few months ago that she didn't want to go to war with Iran over Israel. She is from Indiana, and conservative, so she is allowed to say it without being labeled as an anti-Semite. Me, I'm supposed to be a liberal, and I live in Washington DC, so if I said the same thing, the masses would descend on me and tell me that I'm a racist. But I think the same thing, I don't want to go to war over oil, over Israel, or over anything other than defending our nation.

But what is true, and is never said out loud is that Iran is not a threat to the United States, Iran is a threat to Israel. Iraq was never a threat to the US, Iraq was a threat to Israel, not a huge threat, as Israel could have nuked Iraq a hundred times over, just as they can do to Iran. The sad truth may be that we went to war in Iraq to make the Mideast safe for Israel, and to give wartime powers to George Bush to make it easier for him to shove his radical agenda down the throats of Americans.

And now I've just written the words that you can't ever say aloud, you can't even think them, and that makes me a raving anti-Semite in the eyes of AIPAC and the general population of Washington DC.

I believe in Israel's right to defend themselves, but I also believe in a separate state for the Palestinians. I believe that neither side will have any sort of prosperity or future until they actively seek a true peace with each other. It's true, I share a bias against Islam with so many other Americans since I dislike their treatment of women and gays. I believe that Jerusalem, with it's religious importance, should be open to members of all faiths, but I believe that because I'm an atheist, and holy places have no meaning for me.

I believe that the United States should treat Iran's nuclear ambitions the same way we treat those of Pakistan and India. I believe that every country should possess nuclear weapons, or that none should, and if I had my preferences, all countries would dismantle their nuclear programs, except those that produce electricity, and open every facility to inspection.

Opps. I just said the things that no is supposed to say, and I'll probably have a swastika painted on my lawn in the morning.

But someone has to say these things. I will not go to war for Israel, and I will not nuke another country to prevent it from acquiring nukes.

Israel is completely capable of handling this problem. Let them push the button.

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