Why are we selling out Israel?

Rush Limbaugh

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been puzzled by the Bush administration's
treatment of Israel. We once again have made it official that we are in
favor of a Palestinian state. And you wonder, what is inspiring the
administration to constantly sell out Israel? What is it?

We are demanding of Israel things that we would never demand of ourselves at
any time, ever. We demand that they not defend themselves, that they show
restraint, and look the other way every time they're attacked. I'm
struggling for a reason because there has to be one.

What is the reason? Why are we enforcing upon Israel policies that make no
sense in the realm of common sense and reality? I can think of only two
things, and I think one of them is really the key. One, obviously, is oil.
We want as stable a region as we can get, which is puzzling because it's as
unstable as it's ever been, precisely because of our heavy foot on Israel's
neck. The second aspect, though, and I think this is the key, is Iraq.

After we made the move in Afghanistan, everybody said, "Where are we going
to go next?" It's always been Iraq. I think Iraq was on the drawing board
even before Afghanistan, and for a number of reasons. It's personal. It goes
back to the Gulf War, but there are other factors as well. The weapons of
mass destruction, Saddam is a lunatic and cannot be allowed to get hold of
any more oil than he already controls. He cannot be allowed to get hold of
weapons of mass destruction because he'll use them. He has to be taken out.

Going into Iraq is risky in terms of trying to maintain any Arab coalition.
The Arabs don't like Iraq or Hussein either, but they like non-Arabs a
little less, and they dislike Jews even more. During the Gulf War, Israel
was told at the outset basically not to do a thing. No matter how many Scuds
were launched at them, they were told not to fire back, not even to so much
as throw a rock. We told them to just sit there and take it, and that we'd
handle it. And the reason why is for the unity of the coalition.

The Arabs are not really crazy about each other, either. In fact, they
actively don't like each other. But they hate Israel more. And if Israel
does anything that is seen as aggressive against any Arab state, even one
they despise like Iraq, it will cause the Arab nations of that region to
align almost inseparably.

So I think the fact that we're literally leaning, stepping on, and
suffocating Israel right now in the Palestinian situation means Iraq is
imminent. This is what I think it means, folks. I think it means we're
heading in there, and we just don't want Israel doing anything that would
destabilize any semblance of a coalition that we might have going in there.
We don't want the Arab states of that region sympathizing in any way with
Iraq. And that means right now the Israelis cannot be victorious in their
struggle. It's just a wild guess, my friends, that's as good as anybody's.