I find posting on the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians completely thankless and frustrating. Nobody is particularly interested in hewing closely to the facts, everyone wants to rake up old scores, and whatever position you take or comment you make, it elicits a torrent of vitriol from people who are utterly convinced of its opposite. I’ve already been insulted in the comments thread of a post on another blog just for sticking to the facts.
If we fail to support Israel, we’re turning our backs on the closest thing to a friend we have in the Middle East (and one of our best intelligence assets there). If we support Israel, we can’t be an honest broker and we’ll have the unquenchable enmity of Israel’s enemies (practically everybody else in the Middle East).
I’ve given up on commenting on the war on all blogs for the reasons you cite. I’ve had comments “moderated” into the ether or, like you, been subjected to vitriol or had my words twisted to say something I didn’t say. It’s very frustrating.
On the war in Iraq I’ve stuck to my rather peculiar guns and I think I’ve been completely vindicated. I opposed the invasion but supported our staying as long as things were as chaotic as they were in 2005-2007.
I find the idea that Iraq is any sort of model for the rest of the Middle East laughable but at least things didn’t get as bad as they might have had we abandoned the country to its fate.
Do: Damned
Don’t: Damned.
Sandmonkey reflects a lot of my cynicism:
“Oh boy, this is going to be a fantastic exercise in stupidity. Should be a blast. I am excited. You excited? Sweet. Get your War on!”