Israel Owes the U.S. a Blunt Word or Two on Iraq

[Purveyor]

Sometime in the next two years, the United States will begin removing its armed forces from Iraq. Whether next month’s anticipated Petraeus report hastens or delays that departure, the rhetoric of virtually all leading presidential candidates appears to ensure the ultimate outcome.

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Israel, therefore, has to take stock of the ramifications of a withdrawal and, as a friend of the United States, has both a need and an obligation to communicate its concerns to American policy planners and to Israel’s friends and supporters in the United States.

Israeli strategic analysts must first examine how extensive America’s anticipated withdrawal from Iraq will be. If, for example, the United States leaves tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of aircraft in three or four “permanent” bases now being readied in Iraq, this might reduce the damage withdrawal would cause to America’s force projection and deterrent profile.

Israel has every reason to encourage an American withdrawal plan that reduces the impression that America’s backing for its friends in the Middle East is eroding. Not only would a diminished American deterrent profile encourage Iranian and Arab Islamist aggression, it could further constrain the already-limited readiness among moderate Sunni states to coordinate defensive efforts with Israel.

One could, of course, argue that the more quickly and completely the United States withdraws and ends its failed mission in Iraq, the sooner it can begin restoring a positive superpower image in the region and patching up relations with the Middle East’s large Sunni Arab majority, both of which would presumably be to Israel’s benefit. But if the speed and comprehensiveness of the American departure from Iraq are debatable from Israel’s standpoint, the remaining ramifications appear to be far more straightforward, and worrisome, in terms of Israel’s vital security interests.

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http://www.forward.com/articles/11335/