Why Ariel Sharon even advised us against attacking Iraq! Imagine that? I won't mention the way Stalin had his minions "talk him into" going after certain suspects because the comparison might evoke whimpers of "anti-semitism." When we speak of nations, the US, Israel, the USSR, Kenya, Ireland etc. the reference is to an abstract political concept. So the idea of a "role" is more accurately ascribed to individuals. It wasn't really the "UK" that launched a campaign to drag the US into two world wars with it but the coterie of Winston Churchill and the intelligence officers running in the US. One of them planted a story in a Chicago newspaper known to be monitored by Abwehr. This led directly to Germany declaring war on the US on Dec. 11, 1941.

Douglas Feith is a lawyer that had a practice for several years in Tel Aviv with a close relationship to everyone of importance in the Likud party. Paul Wolfowitz, Newt Gingrich, Michael Ledeen and nearly a hundred others with free access to the White House lobbied actively and somewhat openly for this war before W was even a candidate. Some of these people compromised their security clearances over the years sending classified data Zionward. The rest are about as impartial on the subject as Alan Dershowitz is. If Likud leadership truly opposed OIF (first proposed as OIL) these "renegades" were having none of it before 9-11 even happened. This is about as believable as Meir Kahane being a PLO mole.

Soon after the war began rumors ran rampant that Israel had operations afoot in Iraq proper. Unaffiliated war supporters protested in astonishment that the US would never allow such activity. They all fell silent when the Larry Franklin episode, straight out Feith's office, proved otherwise. A large friendly army straddling Israel's numerous enemies in the region could obviously provide comfort to the minds of IDF strategists. Whether it will work for them in the long run remains to be seen. American occupation of Iraq might be a catalyst for catastrophic events in the future which no one can foresee. There will always be Israeli citizens concerned about such a possibility. That Ariel Sharon was among them in 2003 is a joke to anybody paying any attention. Public poses don't necessarily jibe with the calculated intentions of world leaders. If they always did these guys wouldn't become world leaders.

A low profile is doubtless desired by numerous honest, hardworking Israelis. But the hotdogs (kosher or otherwise) tend to get the reins in Western countries and whatever its longitude, culturally, Israel is one.