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US, Israel Split on Iran? Joint Military Drill Cancelled
Netanyahu deputy voices ‘disappointment’ with Obama on Iran
Joint US-Israel war games planned for this spring simulating war with Iran have apparently been cancelled, according to multiple news agencies in Israel Sunday.
A US Navy sailor stands on a destroyer docked at the Israeli Mediterranean port of Haifa, as part of a joint exercise between the US and the Israeli Navy in 2009. Joint US-Israel war games planned for this spring simulating war with Iran have apparently been cancelled, according to multiple news agencies in Israel Sunday. (AFP Photo/Atef Safadi) Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled for talks in Israel this week, Israel said Sunday, at a time when the United States is concerned that Israel might be preparing to attack Iran over its nuclear program.
UPDATE: Agence France-Presse is now reporting:
Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone a major military defence exercise scheduled for spring, a senior security official said Sunday, amid rising regional tension over Iran's nuclear program.
"Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone the maneuvre planned for spring," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"The exercises will take place between now and the end of 2012," the official added, without elaborating.
Earlier, public radio said the "Austere Challenge 12" exercise would be pushed back to the end of 2012 over unspecified budgetary concerns, citing military sources.
Army radio, citing a defence official, said it was being postponed to avoid "unnecessary headlines in such a tense period."[...]
The postponement appeared to suggest fears the exercise could dangerously ramp up regional tensions, at a time when Iran has already threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- a choke-point for one fifth of the world's traded oil -- in the event of a military strike or severe tightening of international sanctions over its nuclear program.
DEBKAfile, the Jerusalem-based English language Israeli military intelligence website, is reporting:
US-Israeli discord over action against Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have ever staged, ready to go in spring, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran's central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices.
The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran.
Nothing was said about the 9,000 US troops who landed in Israeli earlier this month for a lengthy stay. Neither was the forthcoming visit by Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff.
The exercise was officially postponed from spring 2012 to the last quarter of the year over "budgetary constraints" – an obvious diplomatic locution for cancellation. It was issued urgently at an unusually early hour Washington time, say Debka's sources, to underscore the Obama administration's total disassociation from any preparations to strike Iran and to stress its position that if an attack took place, Israel alone would be accountable.
Israel's Deputy Prime minister further inflamed one of the most acute disagreements in the history of US-Israeli relations over the Obama administration's objections to an Israel military action against Iran's nuclear sites in any shape or form. Yaalon ventured into tricky terrain when he pointed out that US Congress had shown resolve by enacting legislation for sanctions with real bite. But the White House "hesitated." He went on to say: "A military operation is the last resort, but Israel must be ready to defend itself."
The friction was already fueled last week by the deep resentment aroused in Israel by Washington's harsh condemnation of the assassination last Wednesday, Jan. 11, of the nuclear scientist Prof. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, and absolute denial of any US involvement.
Although Tehran has since accused the United States of the attack, the White House treated it as the defiant sign of an approaching unilateral Israeli military operation against Iran to which the administration is adamantly opposed.
The Jerusalem Post is reporting Sunday:
Israel and the US are in talks about the possibility of canceling a missile defense drill, billed as the largest ever in the country's history, planned for the spring.
Initially scheduled for April and called "Austere Challenge," the drill was supposed to see the deployment of thousands of US troops and various sophisticated US military equipment in Israel.
In recent weeks, Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office has held talks with the Pentagon about the possibility of canceling the drill.
Senior military officers told The Jerusalem Post that the drill scheduled for April has been canceled, while defense officials said that it was possible that it would be held later in 2012.
The drill, expected to involve the deployment of thousands of US troops in Israel, was scheduled to last around a week and mark the first time that a top US military commander would participate in the simulations.
* * *
Meanwhile, Israel's Ha'aretz reports:
A senior Israeli official voiced disappointment in the Obama administration on Sunday, saying "election-year considerations" lay behind its caution over tough Iran sanctions sought by U.S. legislators.
While Washington has been talking tougher about Iran's nuclear work and threat to block oil export routes out of the Gulf if hit with harsher sanctions, new U.S. measures adopted on Dec. 31 gave President Barak Obama leeway on the scope of penalties on the Iranian central bank and oil exports.[...]
The remarks by Ya’alon, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, appeared to jar with praise centrist Defense Minister Ehud Barak offered last month for what he described as Obama's resolve against Iran.
Running for re-election in the face of Republicans who hold sway over big pro-Israel constituencies, Obama has sought to burnish his credentials as a friend of the Jewish state despite having frosty relations with Netanyahu.
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This announcement is pure political posturing by Obama. It is intended to make Obama look more appealing to independent voters and thereby swing them away from Ron Paul.
People this "announcement" is pure smoke and mirrors. We now have nearly 10000 soldiers in Israel RIGHT NOW. And there are NO PLANS FOR THEM TO LEAVE. IF the "exercise" was really cancelled these troops would be getting ready to leave. NONE of the soldiers, none of our most advanced surface to surface ABM systems, none of our navy assets have gone anywhere.
This announcement is meaningless. It is meant to pull the wool over the eyes of the Naive American TV view. I am sure that the entire zionist propaganda ministry will be trumpeting this "announcement". Baloney people.
ISRAEL WILL LAUNCH A FALSE FLAG OPERATION BY MURDERING AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND OR SEAMEN AND BLAME IT ON IRAN. Don't think israel would do this? Well I hate to disappoint you but israel has already done this twice before. First the USS Liberty and then the Bombing of the Marine barracks. Come on people wake up israel is the ENEMY not Iran!!!!! Has Iran attacked the US? No of course not they are not stupid nor do they have a death wish. Has israel attacked and killed American soldiers sailors and civilians YES REPEATEDLY!!!!!!!
I didn't know that the Beruit Barracks Bombing was the latest "inside job" du joir. Those were some pretty dedicated Mossad agents - blowing themselves up and all.
But yes, the Liberty attack remains quite suspicious to this day. However, the purported purpose - to draw the US into the 6 day war makes no sense, becasue everyone knew that they were Israeli planes and torpedo boats from the onset. One credible reason was to disable US intelligence intercepts from this ship regarding the Golan Heights invasion and possible missile strikes on Cairo (recall that Nassers Egypt was a Soviet ally). They knew that the Soviets were intercepting these communications, and had to disable them. These were the hair-trigger cold war days.
The attack on the USS Liberty was a war crime ....not garbage.
You and the Joe Lieberman independents.......
I agree, Julie. One can speak about Israel's aggressive policies, but to call it THE enemy? I mean what's with this need for enemies at all? It's clear to me that the louder the voices blaming Israel exclusively, the greater the wish to project accountability for the U.S.'s own martial policies, onto a "fitting" target. This kind of projection is very old, and very dangerous. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Ddearborn is a gun-lover. That's his usual meme. And Ron Paul's association with the John Birch Society means he attracts a lot of anti-semites. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What the world needs urgently is a consciousness that no longer lends credibility to the premise of any enemies in the first place. The only viable criteria for enemy should be those who push weapons and start wars. Until OUR nation acts in an exemplary fashion and demonstrates pro-peace, wisely negotiated foreign policy determinations, it is beyond hypocrisy to turn another nation (that practices tactics along martial lines) into the symbolic Devil.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From an astrological perspective, I've mentioned this on CD before... that Israel, as a Taurus entity, will be coping with the very challenging and equally isolating opposition from Saturn beginning this October and lasting for about 3 years. Prior to this dispute over Iran (and Amen to sane U.S. advisors for drawing this line in the sand), I thought Israel would lose US support due to our nation wrestling with its own financial tests. Because the U.S. is scheduled to face a most difficult nadir, it won't have the resources to lend to any "allies," However, if Israel assumes the morally repugnant and politically suicidal stance of going this one alone, it surely will BE alone; and may even know first-hand what both shunning (from the world community) and sanctions feel like.
No nation nor person is immune to the law of karma.
"what's with this need for enemies at all?"
you and I see no need but the Masters know it is the only bond which can unite the USers.
This book gives a pretty good explanation as to how that comes to be. I used to have a copy of it but sold it off during a spell of brokeness. Wish I hadn't.
http://samkeen.com/war/faces-of-the-enemy/
I was alive when Israel attacked the USS Liberty. I remember thinking at the time that the explanations/ excuses coming out of Washington D.C. were as lame and unconvincing as the Warren Commission Report regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
I know there are organizations that have worked courageously to get the true story of the attack on the USS Liberty out to the American people. They have done so both to honor the sailors who died on the Liberty and also to provide a much-needed corrective to an American foreign policy that hides behind a wall of MSM propaganda regarding this horrific attack on our nation and the nefarious cover-up that followed.
Can someone who knows more about this than I do post the internet addresses of these organizations that have worked tirelessly to get the truth regarding the attack on the USS Liberty out to the American people?
The true story of what happened the day the USS Liberty was attacked shines a huge spotlight on the powerful forces that are today pushing us into yet another Mideast crisis that further erodes and undermines out national interests.
ddearborn: "Has israel attacked and killed American soldiers sailors and civilians YES REPEATEDLY!!!!!!!"
Having us troops in Israel is a puzzle but if Obama is against a hot war with Iran, which could lead to World War Three according to the Russians and Chinese, it is possible that they are there not for the purpose of invading Iran... maybe the White House has been listening and finding out about Israeli lies that the world knows about.
Now that Rahm Emanuel is out of the White House and since a big general has warned about no back channel to Iran, maybe there is now, which would be secret since Israel has it’s own software supposedly protecting the US military networks from attacks but the Israeli system is not even able to stop hackers.
Maybe Obama has been warned bout a false flag event manufactured by Israel which the world is already waiting for and suspicious of.
It makes sense to me, but I always thought there would be no Hot war with Iran and the many reasons why... at least not before the election.
If you think Obama is canceling the War Games because of Ron Paul, Ron Paul would be Glad if true but a lot more folks are becoming aware of Israel’s lies besides Ron Paul.
There's nothing puzzling about having US troops in Israel. They're there to protect Israel from Hezbollah in case war with Iran broke out. Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006 for purpose of eliminating Hezbollah but they couldn't do it. The 15,000 American soldiers in Kuwait are there to protect the oil fields in case of war.
Maybe, but How would US troops protect Israel with no Oil Fields in a Hot War?
That would only force Obama to take the blame in a false flag operation.
I think it more likely that the troops are there to take part in the War games which are now on Hold. But it does complicate things for a lot of reasons and preparing for war is not a good sign.
Israel doesn't have oil fields, Kuwait does have major oil fields and it's very very close to Iran. There were 15,000 US troops sent to Kuwait at the same time when 9,000 were sent to Israel.
Scenario 1: If Iran is attacked, Hezbollah will launch attacks on Israel. Syria will do the same because they are officially allies with Iran (that's why I think destabilizing Syria is a part of the whole picture). So US troops are there to protect Israel from such attacks.
Scenario 2: Last I checked Russia's only carrier is at Syria's coast right now, so US troops are there to counter any potential Russian influence in the region or even to confront Russians.
Scenario 3: I don't think Unites States will engage in a war with Iran before Syria and Hezbollah are neutralized, so these troops are there to take out Hezbollah (but kill 2 birds with one stone could play out as well). Israel needs to come up with an excuse to attack Hezbollah and since US troops are there, they will take them out.
"Israel needs to come up with an excuse to attack Hezbollah and since US troops are there, they will take them out."
Who will take the US troops out?
Israel wants another War with Hezbollah? They lost the last one.
You have too many scenarios before the election.
I don’t see what your Scenarios have to do with this article and I don’t think the US troops in Israel could even take out Hezbollah.
Take them out = take Hezbollah out, as if defeat Hezbollah
Yes, of course Israel wants war with Hezbollah. And yes, they lost the last round (even according to many Israelis), that's why they brought in US troops to destroy Hezbollah for them. If US/Iran war breaks out a conflict with Hezbollah is unavoidable.
My comments ave are completely related to the article and it was a response to your post(s). US elections however is unrelated here.
If a hot war breaks out I don’t see how a conflict with Russia and China is avoidable and it would not matter where the big ships are sailing when that happens.
I also don’t see how US troops could take out Hezbollah once the big war starts, do you think Hezbollah is going to expose themselves to our troops or our troops invading Lebanon and Syria?
I think you are playing with your toy soldiers now and your scenarios are in conflict with Obama canceling the War Games with Israel.
"I also don’t see how US troops could take out Hezbollah once the big war starts, do you think Hezbollah is going to expose themselves to our troops or our troops invading Lebanon and Syria?"
Well, what you see may not necessarily be in tune with what others see. If you think Hezbollah will sit and watch things in a US/Israel/Iran "hot" war, you are too naive. And what makes you think US will never attack Syria or Lebanon? NATO is already seeking ways to attack Syria like they did Lybia, and US is "THE" leading part of NATO.
My playing with toy soldiers is a lot more realistic than your fantasies about Obama calling off this joint military exercise. First of all, calling off these war games is not same as calling off a war. Secondly, I would wait a few days or even weeks before claiming Obama cancelling these war games, since he has a history of changing positions often.
I would be more concerned with Russia and China in a war than Hezbollah.
And no, I don’t think a US attack on Syria, Lebanon or Iran is going to happen before the elections.
But we’ll see, and when positions change you can tell me again that it has nothing to do with the elections.
I hope you're right and these wars or any other war don't happen ever. And I also agree with you about Russia and China being of more concern, but from Israel's point of view, Hezbollah is a major threat to them and 9,000 US troops will never hurt them.
I know you think my scenarios are stupid but a 4th scenario could be that these US troops are there to discourage a potential Israel/Hezbollah conflict which may spark a much larger scale hot war with Iran that US does not want at this moment.
Now you are giving Obama more credit than I do.
I think he sent troops to Israel to help get reelected, but now things are getting real complicated behind all the scenarios.
But I am glad we can agree we don’t need another War.
Except that Iran has been funding and supplying Hezbollah and has even been accused of creating it as a paramilitary org to advance Iranian, Syrian agenda. This theme has come up in the discussion before. I also think that the 10,000 US troops in Israel will form a permanent base there. As well, this gang fight is about bringing the Iranian financial structures under IMF and WB wing (competing with EU), same as Libya, which was trying to create an alternative banking structure for Africa.
As I've repeatedly stated, these wars are oversized gang fights about resources and power - I can't accept the propaganda that any of these countries are "enemies" in the antique idealistic sense, that there's some cultural or ideological good that demands protection or extension, or that the US is some kind of shining hero on a white horse defending the rights or aspirations of mankind. Worse than the Cosanostra, but bigger and better armed. Still stupider than a sack of sawdust. Of course, it's not mere coincidence that all this penis-shaking is taking place near election time.
This article talks about the elections and they do matter.
Israel's Ha'aretz reports: "Running for re-election in the face of Republicans who hold sway over big pro-Israel constituencies, Obama has sought to burnish his credentials as a friend of the Jewish state despite having frosty relations with Netanyahu.”
You have arguments but your “facts" are made up.
In your first post you mentioned that you are "puzzled" as to why The US would send 9,000 troops to Israel and i expressed my opinion. Now, it is up to you whether or not you want to take them as "facts" take them as "assumptions" or keep arguing in order to discredit me. Most readers in CD are smart enough to form their own opinions.
You took me on for the “Puzzle” statement and then ignore the big questions I raised about Russia and China and insert all your made up assumptions like this has nothing to do with the elections but everything to do with Hezbollah.
But readers will form there own opinions and we can agree on that.
I still think the 9,000 troops has absolutely nothing to do with elections and everything to do with Hezbollah. Now, i don't understand what is so "made up" about this logic. Maybe you will enlighten us on how 9,000 US troops in Israel, and calling off the war games will help Obama get re-elected or not.
Ha, I am not giving odds on Obama getting reelected because things ARE CHANGING REAL FAST IN THE WORLD.
I don’t care if you think that the troops are there to fight with Hezbollah.
I am glad that he is at least resisting Israel’s lies and all the trouble they are causing by not even trying to settle their borders while they keep taking land and assassinating those who oppose that.
I think sending troops to Israel is a mistake. This is all a dangerous bloody game and if Israel starts the War, If I was Prez I would have the troops arrest Netanyahoo, but that is not why they are there.
I don’t think anyone thinks Hezbollah is gonna invade Israel and from Obama’s view he is just playing the game of upping the ante, gunboat diplomacy and not losing the Israel lobby, yet now things are changing fast and and nobody knows whats next.
At least Obama does not want a war like most Republicans running.
So I’ll leave it to you to decide whether US troops in Israel will fight Israel’s neighbors including Palestinians or what the troops will do to help Obama get reelected because it doesn’t help the cause of peace.
I say get all our troops the hell out and mind our own business for a change.
These War Games are not my idea of how to make peace.
Jim Glover, in reply to your last post, I don't know who will be the next president but i believe that Obama does not want to be known as "The President" who started WWIII, so i really hope that he is doing his best to prevent another world war. There are probably many things happening behind the scenes right now that we are unaware of, which can change the situation very fast, so i hope for this situation to change for the better.
These are critical times and a test of humanity's ability to survive. Let's hope we the human race will at least score enough to not flunk this test.
Thanks, we can agree on that.
ddearborn, the lying 'D' party 'Vichy' shill, Obama, is just trying to head-off a challenge from a true anti-war and anti-EMPIRE candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.
_____________________________________________
There will, thank God, be a primary challenger to this Obama faux-emperor/president for the 2012 nomination --- just as there was a challenge to LBJ in '68 from the true anti-war Gene McCarthy, and this will cause the dam to burst, and cause that 'damn' pro-war, pro-tyranny, and pro-EMPIRE Obama to be forced to reprise the famous LBJ speech: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
Put a fork in that "OKie Doke shill". He's done!
[video should auto-start just before LBJ's exit speech @52:00]
___________________________________________
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/3/1968_forty_years_later_president_lyndon
___________________________________________
Best luck and love to the "Occupy Empire" educational movement.
Liberty, democracy, justice, and equality
Over
Violent/Vichy
Empire,
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Obama is smart enough to know that any US assault on Iran could well spiral into the worst world situation since WW2. Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich talk differently.
Seems to me like U.S. and Israel are the same country? That's how the rest of the world sees us! Its nice to see some push back from the Obama administration, I wonder what a Hillary administration would have looked like? The right wing government of Israel expects us to go along with them no matter how it hurts America! Israel is the aggressor not Iran? I only hope the NeoCons in the state department don't win out in the argument that must be going on between them and cooler and smarter heads in the administration? I do think this could push us into a third world war? Everything seems to be on the brink? and its odd all the power that has been given to the military? Defense Budget? who's really calling the shots that's what worries me? peace!
lilith2u, while, the "U.S. and Israel are (not specifically) the same country" --- they have both been fully 'captured' and "Occupied" by the same global corporate/financial/militarist (and media) EMPIRE, which hides behind the facade of that Empire's modernized TWO-Party 'Vichy' sham of faux-democratic and totally illegitimate government --- just as surely as the Nazi Empire tried to hide behind its crude, first-generation, and merely single-party 'Vichy' regime facade in 'captured' and 'occupied' France c. 1940-44.
___________________________________________
Yes, lilith2u, the US, Israel, the U.K., Germany, France and other formerly independent 'nation-states' are now all part of a disguised global Empire that Hitler only dreamed of in talking about the Third Reich (German for 'Empire'), and in this post-nation-state world of the 21st century our primary responsibility as common people of the world is exposing, confronting, and ultimately 'excising' this global 'Vichy Empire', which camouflages itself behind the polite and media seeded cover-term "globalization" is the seminal cancerous tumor that is the proximate CAUSE of all the 'symptom problems' such as; increasingly murderous imperialist oil wars "abroad", vast inequality of income and wealth 'at home' and 'abroad', lying, spying, and tyranny 'at home', environmental destruction world-wide, and all other systemic problems.
___________________________________________
As Hannah Arendt presciently stated from her painful experience under the Nazi Empire, and her life-long study of all empires: "Empire abroad entails tyranny at home".
___________________________________________
Average, honest, and hard working middle/working-class Americans, Israelis, British, Germans, and all citizens of the world must first and foremost avoid being conned by racism, fundamentalist religion, nationalism, and economic scare tactics and must expose, confront, and excise the global Empire that is feeding us all these lies on the path to the Empire's death-spiral.
Best,
Alan
You're on target, Alan. I suspect a "behind-the scenes" power struggle, in the broad intel community, between that faction still aligned to the "FDR vision" ( nation-state republics in a U.N. co-operative alliance for the global "common good"), and the financier-led, Global, imperial faction (which GAINED the upper hand on the death of FDR & purging/replacing of agents loyal to his vision, with wallstreet/the city, intel agents of imperial vision). Neither faction is completely dominant, nor completely eliminated. BOTH factions have ALWAYS been present, amazingly, since the 17th century Roundhead-Cavalier fury. The pendulum, which has been swinging, since the death of JFK, against the 99ers, appears to be swinging, more-and-more, against the imperial 1%ers, and they're getting desperate for a world war, to "shore up" their side. They can no longer muster the strength for such a mad under-taking. Time, strategy, the FATES, and the informing "Zeitgeist", are now working against them. These "vampires" are doomed by the "sunrise".
AHHH!
So THAT'S the set-up, eh?
The Red candidates would lead us to world war, but Obama is "smart enough" not to?
Excellent!
And totally dependent on the notion that Congress is irrelevant to war now.
A precedent SET by Obama in the Traitorous Executive War with Libya.
Briliant!
matti, yes, you're right, that some are still deluded into squabbling over Dem vs. Rep --- when BOTH ***king parties are merely matching puppets of the very same, singular global "Vichy Empire", and the purpose of the supposedly 'different' parties is merely to whip-up the crowds, just as if this were a WWF or NFL sporting event.
___________________________________________
"That dog don't hunt" -- and these parties are the ultimate in a dual party 'Vichy' facade fronting for the real (but hidden) global Empire.
___________________________________________
Hitler and Goebbels would roll over in their graves with envy, and Goebbels might shout, "Mein Fuhrer, I have failed you! If we had only instituted a TWO-Party "Vichy" facade right here in the Fatherland/Homeland (as the American global Empire has done) instead of that obvious single-party 'Vichy' regime in France, you would still be ruling the world, and the Third Reich would last for the thousand years we dreamed of."
Best luck and love to the "Occupy Empire" educational movement,
Alan
"A military operation is the last resort, but Israel must be ready to defend itself."
.........Yes, but don't expect the world to live by your definition of defending yourself.
- The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran.-
Ah, come on, Common Dreams staff!
This causes celebration anywhere that the rule of law and order matters.
This causes celebration by anyone who cares to notice that Israel is not even a US ally.
This causes celebration by many people (except ddearborn, who doesn't believe in the good news and I understand the cynicism), in many places.
This piece would be stronger if you included more people in the celebration, besides just 'Tehran', because that sounds just a bit too jingoistic.
The phrase youcomment on is part of the extended quotation from an Israeli source, not the words of the Common Dreams staff.
Ddearborn has it right in his post below when he states this announcement is meaningless and is just another con from the consummate con man. It is meant to pull the wool over the eyes of the naive American sheeple. Another change we can believe in?
ddearborn sums it up quite nicely: ' ISRAEL IS THE ENEMY; NOT IRAN!
amerika and israel fascist partners in terrorism, torture, and world destruction !
yup
Maybe we have to elect Ron Paul just to reign in the Empire and overlook his other faults, let congress deal with them.
Yes, I agree. The Democrats can look like heroes to the left when they push against some of Paul's most egregious policies. That would be a good thing. Paul could immediately begin the process of bringing the troops home, and we can see where some of the Democrats stand on that issue. That, too, would be a good thing.
Ron Paul 2012
http://tarpley.net/2011/12/28/critique-of-ron-pauls-austerity-plan/
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/12/ron-pauls-anti-progressive-agenda.html
lefttown, and the Empire's shill, Obama, needs to be CHALLENGED for the Dem nomination by a real anti-war, anti-tyranny, and anti-EMPIRE candidate representing social/economic democracy.
__________________________________________
The principled anti-war libertarian right has the guts to field Ron Paul --- now the principled anti-war and anti-Empire left has to have the guts to CHALLENGE this phony shill of war, tyranny, and Empire, Obama!
Best,
Alan
Beware! Israel is hellbent to drag us into a suicidal war against Iran. The sons and daughters of the chicken hawks should lead the way.
Looks to me as if Ron Paul is attracting too many anti-war independents and ex-Democrats, so it is time for Obama to pretend to dial back the Repub/Dem-war agenda until after Romney wins the Republican nomination.
It is TIME to CHALLENGE the pro-war, pro-tyranny, pro-Empire shill, Obama, for the Dem nomination!!
Maybe this is driving the issue now...could it be Israel 'false-flagged' successfully the assassination in question?
Add this to USS Liberty, Israeli Intel filming twin towers (fact or fiction)
Where there's smoke, there's fire
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/13/false_flag
False Flag - By Mark Perry | Foreign Policy
A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.
Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.
The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah -- a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah, according to the U.S. government and published reports, is responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children.
But while the memos show that the United States had barred even the most incidental contact with Jundallah, according to both intelligence officers, the same was not true for Israel's Mossad. The memos also detail CIA fiel reports saying that Israel's recruiting activities occurred under the nose of U.S. intelligence officers, most notably in London, the capital of one of Israel's ostensible allies, where Mossad officers posing as CIA operatives met with Jundallah officials.
The officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah is ongoing. Nevertheless, they were stunned by the brazenness of the Mossad's efforts.
"It's amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with," the intelligence officer said. "Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They apparently didn't give a damn what we thought."
Interviews with six currently serving or recently retired intelligence officers over the last 18 months have helped to fill in the blanks of the Israeli false-flag operation. In addition to the two currently serving U.S. intelligence officers, the existence of the Israeli false-flag operation was confirmed to me by four retired intelligence officers who have served in the CIA or have monitored Israeli intelligence operations from senior positions inside the U.S. government.
The CIA and the White House were both asked for comment on this story. By the time this story went to press, they had not responded. The Israeli intelligence services -- the Mossad -- were also contacted, in writing and by telephone, but failed to respond. As a policy, Israel does not confirm or deny its involvement in intelligence operations......
..........Rigi was interrogated, tried, and convicted by the Iranians and hanged on June 20, 2010. Prior to his execution, Rigi claimed in an interview with Iranian media -- which has to be assumed was under duress -- that he had doubts about U.S. sponsorship of Jundallah. He recounted an alleged meeting with "NATO officials" in Morocco in 2007 that raised his suspicions. "When we thought about it we came to the conclusion that they are either Americans acting under NATO cover or Israelis," he said.
While many of the details of Israel's involvement with Jundallah are now known, many others still remain a mystery -- and are likely to remain so. The CIA memos of the incident have been "blue bordered," meaning that they were circulated to senior levels of the broader U.S. intelligence community as well as senior State Department officials.
What has become crystal clear, however, is the level of anger among senior intelligence officials about Israel's actions. "This was stupid and dangerous," the intelligence official who first told me about the operation said. "Israel is supposed to be working with us, not against us. If they want to shed blood, it would help a lot if it was their blood and not ours. You know, they're supposed to be a strategic asset. Well, guess what? There are a lot of people now, important people, who just don't think that's true."
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/13/false_flag