Who wrote:

Glenn rather vaguely implies our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are intertwined with our support for Israel. How? Heck if I know. He leaves the details for his underlings to figure out.

You cited one of GG's paragraphs to support this claim. The paragraph you cite, as others have noted, does not say what you believe it says. You are misinterpreting it.

So what? We all do it. But I am going to reproduce the paragraph you cited, as well as other pieces of GG's piece, to show you what I believe he really means.

1.

Even those who recognize the existence of that rarest of entities -- a just war -- should acknowledge that constant involvement in an endless series of wars, as our Middle East policies currently ensure, causes "America's soul to become totally poisoned."

Note the use of quotes there. He is quoting MLK, right? This is the real key, as MLK was talking about how things that happen across the oceans can harm us domestically.

2. Next, GG talks about three different things:

Thing one - reversing the erosion of our constitutional liberties

It's just not possible to make real progress in the domestic aims of restoring the Constitution and reversing our military and intelligence expansions

Thing two - our involvement with Israel's wars

if we are simultaneously enabling and blindly supporting Israel's various wars (and therefore dragging ourselves into those wars),

Thing three - our own conflicts in the ME

while we ourselves continue to wage our own never-ending conflicts in the Middle East. All of those issues aren't merely related but are completely intertwined.

Now, back to your statement.

You refer to "...our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan..." but GG merely cites "... our own never-ending conflicts..." I presume these conflicts would include Iraq and Afghanistan, but the fact that he did not mention those conflicts by name leads me to believe that he is not limiting our "conflicts" to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rather, the entire constellation of our involvement in the ME is part of the intertwined issues.

Furthermore, GG's intertwining involves another thing altogether, the very thing that becomes the glue that sticks all of this together: the assault upon our civil liberties.

Our total support for Israel undeniably angers many in the ME and this anger contributes to the problems we have. The problems in the middle east (that led to events like the assault upon the twin towers) and the ever-present images of threatening foreigners setting off bombs, the images that so frighten right wingers in the USA, contribute to the climate of paranoia that has motivated the torture, illegal wiretapping, and so on.

Thus, the three things (not two things, and not just Iraq and Afghanistan) are intertwined because:

A. The thesis of our support for Israel leads to the antithesis of opposition to the USA.

B. Opposition to the USA from people perceived to be terrorists leads to the injection of poison in our domestic body politic because they frighten the right wing.

C. And this leads to the synthesis of how supposedly foreign policy issues can, like the Viet Nam-inspired poison identified by MLK, create a vicious blowback that affects Americans in "the Homeland."

Or, as GG wrote:

It's clichéd at this point, but nonetheless true, to point out that it is our involvement in foreign conflicts and the maintenance of external threats that uniquely justifies infringements on core liberties and the expansion of state power. A nation involved in foreign wars will inevitably act like a War Nation at home. That's just a universal truth.

What ever happened to "Christian" forgiveness and charity?

This guy and his innocent family have fallen so low they cannot help but inspire feelings of compassion. I hope this experience teaches him humility and honesty.

If he is gay, he needs to accept that and live an honest life.

What a painful case.

I noticed Elephantman's post this morning but passed by, as I was at work. Intercooler quotes him like this:

I always have a hard time understanding why the left-wing finds it convenient, or useful, to make common cause with groups like Hamas.

I have a different take on this.

Remember how the ACLU backed Oliver North? The NAZI party? Various and sundry churches and religious groups over the years?

It is possible to take a stand, on principle, without approving of the behavior of every actor involved in a dispute.

I am one of the many who is very critical of Israel's behavior, in Gaza recently, and in many ways in general.

I am an atheist. I have no sympathy with anyone's religious claims, whether they be claims on land, on morality, on tradition, or anything else. I am equally dismissive of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim claims about land being "holy".

My opposition to Israel's current onslaught has to do with my sympathy as a human to ALL who suffer in this tortured part of the world.

Both Israelis and Palestinians and the people in Gaza have the right to defend themselves and a legitimate hope to live in peace. Nothing that is going on now seems likely to do anything but add to the sum total of human misery.

I find Hamas to be contemptible - but so what. Their justifications are hard to distinguish from those with whom they are locked in mortal combat.

I would love to see my own country adopt the role of a strong and honest broker.