Op-Ed by Fred Taub,
Executive Director,
Boycott Watch
In the war on terror, one would
think that every little bit helps. That is the case, unless an item is stamped
"Made In Israel." It is no secret that Iraqi's don't want any Israeli's in
Iraq, especially members of the Israel Defense Force, but just how far does
that extend in a global economy where almost every manufacturing process is
interconnected? The Arabs are not especially fond of Israelis or Jews for that
matter, as exemplified by the beheadings of Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg, both of
whom were Jews.
During the Gulf War, Jewish US
soldiers were issued new ID cards removing Judaism as their religion. Sure,
some may say it would be better to not list the Jewish soldiers' religion on
the ID cards when going into areas hostile to Jews, but that should have been
the soldier's choice, not a mandate. Just being an American in Iraq is being in
a hostile place, so specifically deleting the Jewish religion from ID cards is
not protecting the soldier, rather insulting the soldier. Not listing the
religion could be beneficial if the Jewish soldier would have been taken
prisoner by the Iraqi enemy, but why deny these soldiers their right to be
identified as who they are if they wanted to? Jewish soldiers were not going to
be singled out or removed from their units as that would have destroyed unit
cohesiveness, but the Pentagon, for good or bad, did choose to remove the
Jewish soldier's religious designation from there ID cards. These were not
Israeli soldiers. These were US soldiers. There were American soldiers who
happen to be Jewish. Why did the Pentagon discriminate against Jews being able
to identify themselves as they wished?
Perhaps the US
was trying to protect these soldiers beyond the call of duty. Perhaps the
Pentagon did not want to offend Arabs or the Saudi family by openly having Jews
protect Mecca and Medina, Islam's holist sites. Perhaps the Jewish soldiers
needed the protection offered by not having their religion listed on their ID
cards. Perhaps the Pentagon went a little too far trying to do the right thing
and ended up denying soldiers their pride of their religion. One thing for
certain though, it was done because of the levels of hatred in the Arab world
toward Jews in general, not just Israelis or Israeli products.
In the mean time, the US is very adamant that the
Arab boycott of Israel does not permeate the US because such a boycott against
a friendly nation would harm an ally and create de facto foreign policy. As
recently as March 13, 2003, a letter was sent to President Bush signed by 33
members of Congress expressing concern and urging President Bush to take a
strong stand in support of US anti-boycott laws. (Click here to read the Congressional letter.)
With all that said, why do two Congressmen, Rep. Neil
Abercrombie D- HI and Rep. Curt Weldon D-PA want the US to segregate bullets?
Sounds funny? Don't laugh - it's happening. As if the Pentagon had nothing
better to do, the ammunition soldier's use in the war against terrorism may not
be made in Israel, lest we insult the people we are shooting at.
Currently, the US Army has two contracts to supply
the type of ammunition used in the M16 riffle, one from the Israel Military
Industries Ltd., and the other from Winchester Ammunition, because these two
companies are best equipped to supply the Army with the needed ammunition, but
neither can do it all alone. Both contracts are of equal value, $70 million
each, and both companies supply high quality products. Competitive marksmen use
match grade ammunition made by both companies, which is a testament to their
manufacturing quality.
It is a good idea for the Army
to have two sources in case one source is suddenly unable to deliver its
products due to labor strife, natural disasters or other reasons. That is not
the issue. The issue is that Israeli bullets may be boycotted while we fight
terror in Iraq, despite the fact that Israel has been fighting terror way
before it was born in 1948. Many of the techniques we employ in fighting
terrorism came from what we learned from Israel.
I
recently attended a lecture by an Israeli surgeon who teaches emergency
medicine procedures as related to terrorist bombings. I would have never
thought that would be a specialty, but it is. Israeli doctors have learned a
great deal from treating victims of bomb blasts, and they are passing that
knowledge on to doctors and other emergency medical professionals, including US
military doctors, to help better treat patients and improve recovery times and
prospects. So, in essence, some Congressmen are suggesting that the one nation
that has led the fight against terrorism, including saving the lives of US
soldiers, should be boycotted when it comes to using their military products to
fight terrorism because being shot with Israeli bullets may offend the
terrorists we are shooting at.
Sure, you can say that
more than the terrorists may be offended if Israeli products, especially
bullets are used, but why would someone who is against terrorists be offended
that terrorists are being shot with Israeli bullets? The answer is that in the
Arab world, the hatred of Jews and Israel far outweighs the hatred of the
terrorists, who may in fact be living in the same communities of those we are
in Iraq too liberate. Further, there may be more compassion for terrorists,
would-be terrorists and their supporters than Israelis, who we are more closely
allied with that the Iraqi people.
Now comes the USA,
the beacon of freedom, civil rights, where some in Congress are suggesting that
we should discriminate against Israeli bullets in the war on terror, and that
Israeli bullets may be used for practice and training, but not for real
defense. Am I the only person seeing the irony in all this? This would be like
training pilots to fly one airplane and then only letting them fly a different
aircraft when passengers are on board. If you don't think the differences in
one bullet to another is significant, you may want to consider that ballistics
is a science. Ask any sharpshooter or sniper - they will tell you there is a
difference in bullets from one manufacturer to another, but it is also true
that the average soldier may not notice the difference depending on his
shooting skills.
Let's face some facts. The US Army
needs more than one supplier for everything, and the Army can't just suddenly
change suppliers for bullets, even if it wanted to. Suddenly, some Congressmen
are trying to run a politically correct war, something that was tried in Viet
Nam with horrific consequences.
Complicating this
stance of political correctness, news reports state that Iraqi's pay five cents
for each gallon of gasoline, yet the US Army pays the same market prices we pay
at the pump in the US, plus shipping to Iraq. Boycott Watch is not in Iraq to
verify the gas prices, but we do have to ask questions about integrity. If we
do not stand up for what we believe in, how can we ask Iraqi's to adopt our
democratic ideals? No, Iraq won't suddenly tolerate Jews because the US Army is
in town, but at the same time we should not bend our principals to accommodate
discrimination, especially our own discrimination, regardless of where it
is. |
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| Related Article: |
| World Net Daily: U.S. lawmakers: Don't use Israeli
bullets |
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