About American "Consistency," The Question I Wanted to Ask at Ruthie Blum's Book Launch

Photo by Batya Medad

The other night I attended Ruthie Blum's book launch  for To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the "Arab Spring"  at The Great Synagogue, Jerusalem.  It was one of the events the synagogue has for its English speaking community.  The master of ceremonies stopped the Q & A session by saying that they pride themselves on keeping to their schedule.  There was no time for my question.  I promised Ruthie that I'd blog it, and this is it:

During the year my very elderly father, a World War Two American Navy officer veteran, lived with us, we entertained ourselves by watching from a DVD set of old WWII newscasts and documentaries.  The "theme" or "lesson" admitted by the voice-overs is that there had been many hints and warnings by the Japanese and Germans long before the wars on those two fronts actually began.  The American State Department and politicians consistently ignored or miss-read them. There's a strong déjà vu here about the United States and Iran/Egypt etc.  Considering the consistency in the American mistakes/incompetence, how can Israel keep looking up to the USA for military and diplomatic advice?

I hope that Ruthie finds a way of answering my question.

This may be an unpleasant subject for many, especially those who have IMHO inflated admiration for the United States of America.  A question I've been asking for a very long time is:

"When was the last time the United States defeated an enemy that was actually attacking its land and cities?"

Was there such a war in the Twentieth Century?  Pearl Harbor was just a military base when Japan attacked it.  Hawaii only became a state over a decade after the end of World War Two.

More recent wars fought by the United States did not end in proper victories.  They were more "police actions" at best interfering foreign countries. 

None of the American military experience has any real relevance to Israel's situation.  Actually, the Americans haven't a clue as to the dangers Israel faces.  And the United States is pretty consistent in making drastic and dangerous mistakes in their analysis, which Ruthie pointed out in her talk, specifically concerning Iran and Egypt.  When the Shah was deposed in Iran, Israel understood the situation much better than the Americans. That's why Israeli diplomats escaped and weren't held hostage for 444 days.

The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution.^[1] President Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy", adding that the "United States will not yield to blackmail".^[2]
The episode reached a climax when, after failed attempts to negotiate a release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation, Operation Eagle Claw, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in a failed mission, the deaths of eight American servicemen, one Iranian civilian, and the destruction of two aircraft. It ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the following day, just minutes after the new American president Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. (complete article)

Nu?  This topic is open to discussion.  What do you think everybody?