When I refer to the U.S. as being Israel’s big bully brother, I am not just being sarcastic.  The actual territory of Palestine is of practically zero strategic important to U.S. national security.  While, its true that Israel has a powerful military for a country that diminutive, their involvement in any U.S. military undertaking would pose more a of liability than a benefit as was clearly the case when we begged them to stay out of Operation Dessert Storm even though they were targeted by Iraqi scud missiles.

Make no mistake.  Israel is a protectorate of the U.S. solely due to their lobbying and powerful capacity to influence U.S. elections and media outlets.

Gean Healy makes some interesting observations regarding the recent confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, using a priority list assembled by Buzzfeed.com from the transcripts.  For example, he notes that China was mentioned only 5 times, but…

The “special relationship” with Israel — embraced by everyone at the hearing including the nominee — was special enough to win Israel 166 references in the transcript, more than any other country. Is Israel really 33 times as important to the U.S. as an emerging superpower with 19 percent of the world’s population?

Remember the panic after the Citizens United decision that China would try to influence American elections?  China doesn’t hold a candle to Israel in that regard, and probably never will.

And Radley Balko, commenting on Healy’s article, notes the following in today’s Morning Links:

Number of times the word Isarel was used during the Chuck Hagel hearings: 166. Number of times the word drone was used: Zero.

Remember, these hearings are about whether the nominee is qualified to be Secretary of Defense, so it seems more than a little odd that the fastest growing means of projecting American military power over the middle east doesn’t even warrant a single mention.

“Drones over Timbuktu” sounds like a snarky reductio ad absurdum of terror-war mission creep, but it’s fast becoming our policy, and with little or no debate. Indeed, the committee seemed less interested in the wars we’re currently fighting than in making sure we don’t miss any opportunities to fight new ones. Afghanistan got 20 mentions in the hearing; “Iran” got 144, with most members demanding Hagel reaffirm that bombing Iran is an option we have to keep “on the table.”