Originally posted by Toad
LOL. You can't show Jack.
It's isn't just aid to Israel, it's the whole Arabs vs Israel in the Middle East that is part and parcel of that expense.
You say the Sixth Fleet is in the Med to "protect our oil" but you can't back it up. You refuse to consider that it's just as likely that the Sixth is "muscle" to keep Israel alive, is a part of our Nato committment, etc., etc.
BTW, just who is all that military muscle "protecting our oil" from? From the guys who want to sell it to us? What?
There's dancing going on but I'm sitting watching someone do the two-step.
The only one two stepping is you, and you are being rediculous, we have been securing oil for years. Yeah, all that military presence in the middle east is to help the farmers count their sand granules. And it's the 5th fleet, and they're there as a commuter ferry.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030701faessay15401/kenneth-m-pollack/securing-the-gulf.htmlIT'S THE OIL, STUPID
America's primary interest in the Persian Gulf lies in ensuring the free and stable flow of oil from the region to the world at large. This fact has nothing to do with the conspiracy theories leveled against the Bush administration during the run-up to the recent war. U.S. interests do not center on whether gas is $2 or $3 at the pump, or whether Exxon gets contracts instead of Lukoil or Total. Nor do they depend on the amount of oil that the United States itself imports from the Persian Gulf or anywhere else. The reason the United States has a legitimate and critical interest in seeing that Persian Gulf oil continues to flow copiously and relatively cheaply is simply that the global economy built over the last 50 years rests on a foundation of inexpensive, plentiful oil, and if that foundation were removed, the global economy would collapse.
'If Kuwait grew carrots, we wouldn't give a damn."
--Lawrence Korb, assistant defense secretary under Reagan, as the U.S. prepared its massive military assault on Iraq in 1991.
Lol, and saddam didn't invade Kuwait for it's oil, it's just plain rediculous. He invaded for their WMD. BTW, didn't you lose a bet? You're not exactly batting a thousand are ya?