AMERICAN sabre-rattling is unlikely to bring calm to a Middle East that is ready to explode. If anything, Washington’s decision to add more troops, ships and aircraft to the volatile region will further escalate matters, while encouraging Israel to continue on its path of rabid destruction.

According to Pentagon media releases, the US military is routing men and equipment to the Middle East, and stands ready to deploy forces at “short notice”. The underlying motive for this display of military muscle, as highlighted in a telephone call between the US defence secretary and his Israeli counterpart, remains America’s commitment “to the defence of Israel”.

The fact is that while the Biden administration continues to put on a geopolitical pantomime of pushing for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, these farcical efforts are nullified by America’s steadfast military and financial support of Israel as the latter goes on the rampage across the region. A Democratic senator has stated on record that Israel used American ‘bunker-buster’ bombs used in the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Instead of genuinely working to bring down tensions in the region, the US is fanning the flames with its open support of Israel, and plans to enhance its military posture in the Middle East.

However, past American military adventures beyond US borders have only sown destruction across large swathes of the globe, particularly the Muslim world. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen are amongst the states which have suffered immensely due to direct and indirect projection of American imperial might. Now, the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon are suffering the same fate — albeit through Israel — with Iran possibly next on the hit list.

If America is serious about preventing a wider regional war, it should reconsider its military deployment plans. It is not the global policeman, and its ‘defence of Israel’ talk is getting tiresome, especially as the Zionist state slaughters innocent people in Lebanon and Gaza.

However, expecting the US political elite to seriously censure Israel as a presidential election looms in just over a month is wishful thinking. The US political establishment is on the same ideological wavelength as Israel, and the Zionist lobby in Washington are kingmakers. None of the two major American parties will dare offend Tel Aviv at this time, even if it means sacrificing US troops for Israel’s genocidal wars.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2024