A Special Relationship

Letter from Norman Watson

December 31^st 2006 is about to become another landmark date in the history of the second world war. On that day Britain will make her final payment on the $30.3 billion debt incurred under the lease-lend agreement with the USA. This £45 million payment will bring to an end 60 years of similar payments. The programme began in March 1941 when the people of Britain stood alone against Hitler’s Germany.

How different for the people of Israel, with their endless wars with their Arab neighbours! No lease-lend for them – just US ‘aid’, which amounts to at least $2.6 billion each year towards military financing.

UN clearance experts have found over 100,000 unexploded cluster bombs in southern Lebanon, following the Israeli bombing. These deadly ‘time bombs’ were found at 359 different sites. Perhaps if Israel were made to pay for her ‘aid’ the way we have from WW2, then maybe she wouldn’t have scattered them in such large numbers and so indiscriminately, for children to pick up.

Why did the US require us to repay our war debt for taking on Hitler, whilst donating military equipment to Israel? As I understand it, ‘friends of Israel’ own about 75% of the world’s media. Perhaps the ‘repayment to the US is simply to give them a good press. US certainly does get a very good press, despite her attacks on Third World countries and her violations of human rights. Her reputation remains better than you might expect after the torture and murder of PoWs.

Is the American taxpayer getting a good return for his investment? The cost to the US taxpayer in aid to Israel for the fiscal years 1949 to 1998 amounted to a staggering $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation (source: The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs).