Mike Linksvayer wrote:
> But Israel has no oil. Does the US alliance with Israel help
> maintain access to Middle Eastern countries that do have oil?
Yes.
> If
> oil is the objective, it'd be simpler to pay off/befriend Saudi
> Arabia and Kuwait than to ally with Israel.
They are not reliable allies.
> Israel is able to defend itself quite nicely.
I don't believe it's ever had to defend itself without US support.
> Why would all of the Persian Gulf region countries stop selling
> oil unless we really, really pissed them off?
They wouldn't have to merely stop. They could create major problems by
simply raising prices. Bin Laden has stated in a 1997 interview with ABC
news that it is his intent, should he ever gain the power to do so, to raise
the price of oil substantially.
> They _need_ to sell
> us oil. They haven't got anything else. We can avoid pissing them
> off by leaving well enough alone.
I don't think so. Have a listen to this 1998 BBC interview with bin Laden.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_242000/242460.stm
To satisfy him, all Jews and Americans would have to be removed from the
middle east, and the terrorism will continue until this happens or until he
and his henchmen are stopped. If the US were to abandon Israel, the US would
have no forward staging area anywhere near enough the middle east oil fields
to maintain any sort of miliary presence there. Incidentally, bin Laden is
asked in this interview if he has nuclear and biological weapons. His answer
is interesting.
> we've got
> all the other goods they want -- though they would've milked our
> dependence for every political drop they could get.
With people like bin Laden and his followers, I don't think the goods we
have are all that important. Bin Laden comes from a wealthy family,
inherited $300 million, much of which he still controls. If you can find it,
read the transcript of the 1997 ABC interview with him. He comes across as
being after power rather than money.
Barbara
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