Bush pledges to increase US funding to Israel

US to bolster economic aid to Israel in new 10-year agreement, says US President Bush after meeting with Prime Minister Olmert

By Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – In a White House statement issued following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington, President George W. Bush pledged to increase US military aid to Israel over the course of the next decade.

An American team will land in Israel in July to finalize the deal. Israel currently receives an annual $2.4 billion in military aid.

“I am strongly committed to Israel’s security and viability as a Jewish state, and to the maintenance of its qualitative military edge,” said Bush in the statement.

Olmert and Bush met in private for a lengthy three-hour meeting in the White House, focused on the ongoing negotiations to increase US aid to Israel.

“During our meeting today, I told Prime Minister Olmert that I am committed to reaching a new ten-year agreement that will give Israel the increased assistance it requires to meet the new threats and challenges it faces,” said the president.

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America Fumbles the Ball

When it meddles in the Muslim world, the United States can be counted upon to blow it

By Eric Margolis

America has done many great things around the globe, like rebuilding post-war Europe and driving international economic growth. But when it comes to the Muslim world, almost everything the U.S. touches turns to ashes.

Washington’s record of picking compliant foreign leaders has been particularly awful.

In 1969, the CIA put a young officer, Muammar Kadaffi, into power in Libya. Next, the Langley boys helped a promising young Iraqi “asset” named Saddam Hussein, seize power. They courted Osama bin Laden and Taliban to use against Iran.

In Lebanon, CIA put a bunch of corrupt, anti-Syrian Lebanese businessmen and warlords into power who woefully neglected their people’s needs. As a result, the anti-U.S. Hezbullah, which ably runs hospitals, schools, pensions, and civil society, become Lebanon’s real government.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-installed Maliki and Karzai regimes have zero public support. Both face civil wars and national resistance, and are branded “U.S. stooges.” Ditto the new U.S. and Ethiopian-installed puppet regime in Somalia.

Washington’s political alchemists are now working their latest magic in the Palestinian Territories, a giant, open-air prison camp surrounded by Israeli security forces.

Having gotten rid of Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, who refused to condone U.S.-Israeli plans to parcel up his nation, Washington installed Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian leader. The compliant Abbas is lauded in the west as a “moderate” — our code word for obedient Arab leaders.

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