Vance here supports the US acting as Israel’s devoted servant in support of whatever “fighting” Israel decides to pursue against Iran. According to Vance, the decision-making is all at the discretion of the Israel government. The US just tags along, providing unwavering support.
Donald Trump likes to talk about how he puts America first. Last night, Trump’s presidential race running mate J.D. Vance made it clear that Vance has other priorities. In answer to the first question of the vice-presidential debate, Vance asserted that his allegiance is to Israel first. Indeed, he suggested that America does not even come in second.
Here is how Vance responded to debate moderator Margaret Brennan’s question of if Vance would “support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran”:
Now, you asked about a preemptive strike, Margaret, and I want to answer the question. Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies wherever they are when they are fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.
Vance here supports the US acting as Israel’s devoted servant in support of whatever “fighting” Israel decides to pursue against Iran. According to Vance, the decision-making is all at the discretion of the Israel government. The US just tags along, providing unwavering support.
Note also the use of the plural “allies” by Vance. To how many other foreign governments is Vance supporting US servitude to advance their fights against “bad guys”? Is Vance for America third, twelfth, twenty-fifth? Who knows? What is his current list of allies that he puts before America?
Still, instead of being punished with life imprisonment, the government officials responsible for the carnage managed to convince the American people – this author included – that they should punish us with a massive police state, effectively eviscerating our constitutional rights forever.
We should never forgetthat American civilians were blindsided twenty-three years ago this month when a small group of mostly Saudis and Egyptians hijacked our civilian airliners in a kamikaze mission that murdered thousands. Though none of them were Palestinian, the nineteen hijackers’ indefensible terrorist attack was motivated largely by Washington’s unconditional military, financial, and diplomatic support for Israel’s apartheid system, illegal occupations, and myriad atrocities in southern Lebanon as well as Palestine.
By design, that’s a crucial part of the story never included in the “never forget” file. Such a superficial catchphrase, bereft of any meaningful understanding of why the transformative attack took place beyond the usual “they hate us for our freedom” canard, is just cynical.
Our new national mantra was used to psychologically torment survivors, widows, orphans, and the broader public alike into reluctantly accepting or enthusiastically supporting inexcusable and largely predetermined government policies.
As with anything else in life, our affairs would drastically improve with an objective understanding of cause and effect. If we achieved a realistic worldview following that terrible day in September 2001, it would have been impossible for the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney to justify his ostensible solutions to the attack, which included the largest government crackdown on our inalienable rights and doubling down on the same murderous foreign policies that made our waking lives a nightmare.
On both sides of the aisle, our rulers systematically provoked the attacks, supported Al Qaeda fighters in various theaters throughout the 1990s, and failed their most basic obligation – given the regime’s monopoly on security services – to protect its citizens and their homeland.
If you want a glimpse of the next stage of America’s transformation into a police state, look no further than how Israel—a long-time recipient of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid from the U.S.—uses its high-tech military tactics, surveillance and weaponry to advance its authoritarian agenda.
If you want a glimpse of the next stage of America’s transformation into a police state, look no further than how Israel—a long-time recipient of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid from the U.S.—uses its high-tech military tactics, surveillance and weaponry to advance its authoritarian agenda.
Military checkpoints. Wall-to-wall mass surveillance. Predictive policing. Aerial surveillance that tracks your movements wherever you go and whatever you do. AI-powered facial recognition and biometric programs carried out with the knowledge or consent of those targeted by it. Cyber-intelligence. Detention centers. Brutal interrogation tactics. Weaponized drones. Combat robots.
A 2018 investigative report concluded that imported military techniques by way of these exchange programs that allow police to study in Israel have changed American policing for the worse. “Upon their return, U.S. law enforcement delegates implement practices learned from Israel’s use of invasive surveillance, blatant racial profiling, and repressive force against dissent,” the report states. “Rather than promoting security for all, these programs facilitate an exchange of methods in state violence and control that endanger us all.”
Petti documents how the NYPD set up a permanent liaison office in Israel in the wake of 9/11, eventually implementing “one of the first post-9/11 counterterrorism programs that explicitly followed the Israeli model. In 2002, the NYPD tasked a secret ‘Demographics Unit’ with spying on Muslim-American communities. Dedicated ‘mosque crawlers’ infiltrated local Muslim congregations and attempted to bait worshippers with talk of violent revolution.”
That was merely the start of American police forces being trained in martial law by foreign nations under the guise of national security theater. It has all been downhill from there.
MCViewPoint 