Letter submitted to the Honolulu Advertiser, but not published.

Matt Dames’ cartoon (8/2) depicts Iran and Syria fueling Hezbollah. The US and Israel are absent although part of the conflict. About one third of US foreign aid goes to Israel, $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $6.3 billion in arms from 2001-2005. Militarism is not only profitable economically, but also in body count. So far more than ten times as many Lebanese have been killed as Israelis. Almost all of the Lebanese casualties are civilians, only some two dozen are Hezbollah. Half of the Israeli casualties are civilians and half are military. This disproportion in kills may reflect the difference in military power.

If the US genuinely wants peace anywhere, then it must rethink weapons sales and other aspects of its failed policies. Recently the Bush regime appears to be pursuing some diplomacy after years of apathy except for militancy. However, because of its bias toward Israel it cannot be a fair negotiator. The time is long overdue for the European and especially the Middle Eastern nations to be more active in diplomacy, unless war is too profitable for them as well. Also it is time to end prejudice and hatred toward Arabs, Muslims, Jews and anyone else.