Carole is quite right to point out the vast sums of money paid by the American taxpayer to fund the Israeli war machine and to keep the Israeli economy afloat.

That colossal sum has gone to keep the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank which is probably the longest illegal occupation of another country in recent history.

The American funding also meant that Israel was able to launch its recent air,sea and land attack on Israel-an attack which killed thousands and left 15000 Lebanese homes destroyed.

This funding has not been for the benefit of the Palestinian or Lebanese people and indeed in the long term has only harmed the reputation of Israel.

The years when many of us sympathised with plucky little Israel have long gone. Across the world people now see Israel as an arms supplier and supporter of thuggish regimes like the apartheid era South Africa and modern day Colombia.They see Israel as the neighbourhood bully always trying to crush,humiliate and kill Palestinians and Lebanese and they see Israel as a country that ignores UN resolutions and indeed is a killer of UN personnel.

The Israel gets away with it because it has the military support of the USA....which rushed armaments and munitions to Israel during its 2006 attack on Lebanon.

CaroleC is correct to point out that in choosing to fund warfare the Bush administration has turned its back on the healthcare and welfare so badly needed by the low waged and the poor.There's always money for a new weapons system but money is just as often too tight to mention when it comes to public programmes that care for the elderly or sick .
Albert