Arab News.com article notes JINSA statement signed by generals and admirals, 4/10/10
Petraeus finally takes the genie out of bottle
The taboo was finally broken and the genie is out of the bottle despite some attempts to force it back. America’s military leaders have had enough and decided to speak out about the liability that a hard-line Israel causes to America’s national interest.
Petraeus finally takes the genie out of bottle
The taboo was finally broken and the genie is out of the bottle despite some attempts to force it back. America’s military leaders have had enough and decided to speak out about the liability that a hard-line Israel causes to America’s national interest.
American Gen. David Petraeus finally said the words that many have been saying behind closed doors for decades. The statement of the star-studded general puts American blind support for Israel in direct opposition to the country’s most important institution, the military. To be fair, hints to this effect have been leaking out of Washington for some time now. President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched the opening salvo in this direction when they said publicly that the creation of an independent Palestinian state is in the interest of the United States.
President Barack Obama repeated this statement in numerous speeches, including in his historic talk at Cairo University. But for some reason, such statements, as important as they were, resonated neither with the US nor with the Israelis. Some Palestinian and pro-Palestinian forces in the US attempted to build on them, but for the most part that effort hasn’t registered in America’s political and media landscapes. But when the top US military general responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans says so, people stop and listen. It is difficult for pro-Israel forces, whether coming from American Jewish circles or right-wing American Christian fundamentalists, to argue with a general as popular as Petraeus. Ironically, many of these right-wing forces are always in praise of the US armed forces and have been pushing for the same Petraeus to run for president.