>>>What I am about to say will probably alienate me permanently from some here, thinking of Tamar in particular. (Tamar, I ask your forgiveness in advance -- you are one of my faves). I think Israel is a horrible ally. They have brought the U.S. nothing but trouble. 9/11 would not have happened if not for our persistent bias for Israel in the endless resentment between Jews and Muslims. We shouldn't be sticking our necks in. Leave them to their endless resentments. To those who are committed enough to care so much about it, move there and duke it out. Don't bring foreign fights to our shores.
>>
>>So, now you suggest that the attack on the Twin Towers is afterall the responsibility, the guilt, of the Jews and even the Americans themselves! And you also hold a plea for non-interventionism and isolationism?
>
>Isolationism gets you nowhere, and is pretty much impossible nowadays. Isolationism would also mean pulling back all the troops (and the same number of soldiers :) who are presently stationed abroad, and I don't think I'll live to see that.
>
>But non-interventionism may become a popular option.

Isolationism is a choice, non-interventionism is unethical.

[snip]
>>Having clean hands doesn't necessarilly mean you have a clean conscience.
>
>It's probably not a question of whether to intervene or not, it's the choice of how, when and where. I've seen some weird side-taking happen, while on the other side people were dying by tens of thousands. It depended on optics, image in media, and general interest.

Yes. E.g. Clinton waited for three years before he sent troops to Kosovo. In those three years 200,000 people got killed there. This was a clear case of clean hands.