[Rhodes22-list] Wally, Joke, STILL POLITICS

[brad haslett]

Wally,

That reminds me of an old joke one of my favorite
Captains, Joe Cooperman (retired) told me one night. 
Captain Cooperman commuted from Tel Aviv to Memphis
for several years, believe it or not.


Why did the Arab-Israeli war only last 7 days?

The Israelis' had rented tanks.



I'm taking a break to play with my daughter.  Besides,
a lot of folks DELETE key is probably smoking by now.

Brad
--- Wally Buck <tnrhodey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Brad,
> 
> Yeah I did forget about that, I stand corrected. The
> one thing we can agree 
> on is that I do hope there is some stability in the
> region moving forward.
> 
> I don't think we were trying to steal oil. I do
> think that oil drives our 
> Middle East foreign policy. Also I really don't
> think Bush and Cheney were 
> motivated by padding their own wallets however there
> is an appearance of 
> conflict of interest. I also think that if oil
> weren’t in the region we 
> would have never had Desert Storm in the first
> place. We would have simply 
> looked at Iraq moving into Kuwait as an age-old
> border dispute and sat on 
> the sidelines. As I said earleir this is my main
> point.
> 
> Now Israel is a whole different thing. Initially
> this country was not that 
> supportive of Israel. We would not help them with
> aid or weapons; in fact it 
> was illegal to do so. Most of the aid that came from
> this country was by way 
> of private donations from the Jewish community. They
> built their army by 
> smuggling in weapons from all over the world. What
> really drove our support 
> of Israel was the fact that the USSR started helping
> out many Arab countries 
> along with the strong Jewish lobby.
> 
> Years ago I read a great book on the history of
> Israel post World War I thru 
> 1972 called O' Jerusalem. It reads more like a novel
> than a history book. It 
> is amazing what the Jews endured to build their
> nation. I came away with 
> tremendous respect for how hard they had to battle
> to keep their land. The 
> funny thing is that if the Arabs were offered the
> same deal they were 
> offered back in the 40s they would take it. They had
> most of Jerusalem and 
> plenty of their own territory with self rule. They
> got greedy and every time 
> they attacked they would lose land. Most of the so
> called refuges left on 
> their own because they did not want to live near
> Jews.
> 
> The Seven Day war is a classic example. In seven
> days the Jews defeated 
> Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria (I may be leaving
> a country out). They won 
> the whole Sinai Peninsula, got the west bank and the
> east bank of the Jordan 
> River and land going into Lebanon. Of course they
> also took out one of our 
> destroyers in a friendly fire accident but still it
> was an impressive 
> military display.
> 
> Wally
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >From: brad haslett <flybrad at yahoo.com>
> >Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Stan, CAUTION,
> politics ahead
> >Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 13:55:01 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >Wally,
> >
> >One correction to your observation; Qatar was the
> base
> >for our command center in the region and is a
> Muslim
> >country.
> >
> >In a nutshell, I agree that oil is at the bottom
> line
> >of much of the Gulf regions problems and our
> interest
> >in military intervention.  Those countries would
> still
> >dispute Israel's right to exist, but, without oil
> they
> >wouldn't have the means to build the armies that
> >really pose a threat to Israel and each other.
> >Without oil our response to the area would be much
> >like our response to most of Africa; tragic but not
> in
> >our interests to do anything about it.
> >
> >Here is where I disagree with most of the "blood
> for
> >oil" proponents; all but the last third of Iraq's
> oil
> >production is already on the world market. 
> Assuming
> >that we don't just outright annex the Iraqi oil
> fields
> >(and we're not) they still get the money from the
> oil.
> >  Sure, American oil companies will get contracts
> for
> >field improvements (as opposed to some French and
> >Russian companies who are presently there) and the
> big
> >oil companies (they are almost all multi-national
> >companies now so its hard to call them American)
> will
> >get some shipping and distribution contracts, BUT,
> >very little NEW oil will enter the marketplace.
> >Contrary to what many folks think, or know about
> the
> >domestic oil industry, cheap oil hurts domestic
> >producers in the long run.  Hypothetical:  If GW
> was
> >still in the oil business and whoever was President
> >bombed the Iraqi oil fields out of existance, it
> would
> >save his company from seeking a buyout instead of
> >filing bankruptcy.  See my point?
> >
> >
> >--- Wally Buck <tnrhodey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > Heck Brad, can't you tell I love politcal
> debates.
> > > It takes a lot to piss me
> > > off and even more to offend. I always try to
> keep a
> > > some what open mind and
> > > some times my opinion can be swayed.
> > > >
> > > >BH......... Ending worldwide terrorism is in
> the
> > > best
> > > >interest of the worldwide economy, not just
> ours.
> > > >Whether you like it or not our economy is very
> > > >inter-dependent with other nations.  Look at
> what
> > > >happened to the stock market after the Towers
> fell.
> > > >While financial health may sound like a bad
> thing
> > > to
> > > >some folks, a failing economy hurts everyone
> > > >regardless of financial position.  Frankly, our
> > > only
> > > >stable and reliable ally in the region is
> Israel.
> > > The
> > > >House of Saud is crumbling and has been the
> source
> > > of
> > > >many of the discontents.  Iraq WAS funding
> > > political
> > > >instability in the region.  The radical Muslums
> > > have
> > > >proven that they can and will attack us on our
> own
> > > >soil.  How can you ignore instability in the
> region
> > > as
> > > >a threat?.................BH
> > >
> > > Of course ending terrorism is a good thing and
> > > obvioulsy our econmoy is
> > > effected by the world economy. I do think going
> in
> > > after Bin laden was the
> > > right thing to do. And of course financial
> health is
> > > a good thing. Some
> > > times I have to chuckle about our ally Isreal.
> How
> > > did we wind up being
> > > friends with one of the few countries in the
> middle
> > > east with no oil. :)
> > > Just kidding here. Instability in the region may
> be
> > > a financial threat but I
> > > don't think it was a threat to our National
> > > Security, just our wallet. Most
> > > of what you say is true and this just supports
> the
> > > claim that oil was one of
> > > the main drivers of the war.
> 
=== message truncated ===


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