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Originally Posted by hiredgun
Certainly in their organization and method, they are much like other interest groups. I am not disputing that. The structure of the group is not the cause for concern.
As I said in the OP, what bothers me is the possibility that US policy will ultimately be influenced or even determined by an idea that has no grounding in a factual understanding of the Middle East or the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but rather is entirely pulled from a scriptural ether in which Christians are commanded by God to defend their "older brothers", or worse, to support the Jewish state so as to help bring about the apocalypse.
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Ah, I see what you are saying now, it wasn't very clear in the original post. Still, I really don't think there is much cause for concern here, they are such a fringe group. APAIC is more influential than these evangelicals are.
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Originally Posted by hiredgun
If these kinds of ideas as sources of policy don't bother you, I'm not sure what you and I would be able to discuss.
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So we can only have a discussion if I agree with you?
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Originally Posted by hiredgun
I also take exception to this little tidbit of non-thought:
Israel is our ally; therefore Israel is right and ought to be supported.
(i.e. Nations allied with the US are right and ought to be supported.)
Since Israel is the victim in the right and ought to be supported, the US is allied with Israel.
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How is this non-thought? I assure you, I am most certainly a thinker, thank you very much. It appears you're the one who did not "think"/read my post and decided to put words in my mouth. Where did I say that Israel is a victim and is in the right? Either you are overly paranoid or have some sort of chip on your shoulder here. Why are you so anti-Israel anyways? Israel is indeed our ally and it is normal to support our ally. I don't understand the problem you have here.
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Originally Posted by hiredgun
This linguistic game completely separates the question of supporting Israel from any examination of what is actually going on in the Mideast, and what actual effect is has on American interests.
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Whatr are you talking about?
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Originally Posted by hiredgun
Incidentally, do you actually believe that unqualified support for Israel, ally or not, has any sort of potential to lead to a peace agreement? Was it that kind of support that led to successful peace deals in the past?
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Unqualified? Why don't you tell me? First of all, I don't believe that our support for Israel is unqualified (as a general statement). Wow you are really having a field day with your assumptions and putting words in my mouth.
Peace will come when the extremists on both sides stop fighting or the moderates make a stand. In my opinion, the biggest hindrance to peace in the Middle East is the inability of the muslims to curb their terrorism. Each time peace comes to the table, Hamas or some other org either refuses to even try for peace or commits some terror act. Maybe when they stop kidnapping soldiers and blowing things up then Israel will stop retaliating and peace will come.