December 2008 archive


12/31/2008 - With Iran, Obama Needs More Carrot, Less Stick By Scott Ritter A clean break with the neoconservative policies of the Bush administration is a prerequisite for success, and achieving this requires great imagination and courage. President-elect Barack Obama has demonstrated the potential for both of those qualities. I hope that promise is realized.  

12/31/2008 - Clueless in Gaza by Philip Giraldi Is this a deliberate attempt to create a widening conflict that will draw in Iran among other players?  

12/31/2008 - A spy goes to work for a thinktank the Middle East Forum has hired Steve Rosen, once the head of policy development for the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosen is accused of stealing highly classified information from the U.S. government and passing it on to Israeli government officials.  

12/31/2008 - Ex-U.S. Army engineer Kadish pleads guilty to spying for Israel An 85-year-old former U.S. Army engineer on Tuesday admitted he passed classified documents to the Israelis in the 1970s and 1980s. Kadish said he believes he was promised that the government will not seek imprisonment at his February sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Iris Lan said prosecutors promised only that they would not oppose or challenge a sentence that included no prison time.  

12/31/2008 - Obama Adviser Aligns with White House in Criticism of Rocket Attacks on Israel Before running for president, he provoked suspicion among Israelis and some US Jewish groups when he expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. But after winning the Democratic nomination earlier this year he veered in the other direction, voicing strong support for Israel in a speech in Washington to the Israeli lobby group Aipac.  

12/31/2008 - Neocons, NYT Demand More War, Torture - by Philip Giraldi It is astonishing that the New York Times would even print a piece advocating torture, but the article is just one more indication of the access that the neocons have to the nation's editorial pages.  

12/31/2008 - IAF uses new US-supplied smart bomb The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.  

12/31/2008 - Hezbollah watches for now as Israel hits Hamas    

12/31/2008 - George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel Americans shouldn't be in the position of endlessly debating Israel's security situation and its endless religious and territorial conflicts with its neighbors. That should be for Israeli citizens to do, not for Americans. But that distinction -- between the U.S. and Israel -- barely exists because our political leaders have all but eliminated it, and have thus imposed on U.S. citizens responsibility for the acts of Israel. In doing so, they have systematically ignored the unbelievably prescient warnings issued by George Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address, and have thereby provoked exactly the dangers he decried Against the insidious wiles... I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens..

12/31/2008 - Turkey ends Israel-Syria peace effort over Gaza Turkey said on Monday it was ending efforts to organise peace talks between Israel and Syria because of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.  

12/31/2008 - Iranian official Israeli offensive in Gaza similar to Hitler's actions A senior Iranian Parliament member compared the Israel Air Force strikes in the Gaza Strip to Adolf Hitler's actions during World War II.  



12/28/2008 - Army looks for outside help to reduce suicides    

12/28/2008 - Iran sees US choppers near its frontiers Iran's military says U.S. helicopters have been flying too close to its border with Iraq and may even have crossed the frontier.  

12/28/2008 - Five ex-secretaries of state urge talks with Iran The wide-ranging, 90-minute session in a packed auditorium at The George Washington University, produced exceptional unity among Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III.  

12/28/2008 - Iran Resolution Shelved in Rare Defeat for 'Israel Lobby' In a significant and highly unusual defeat for the so-called 'Israel Lobby', the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives has decided to shelve a long-pending, albeit non-binding, resolution that called for President George W. Bush to launch what critics called a blockade against Iran.  

12/28/2008 - Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source Say, I bet we can guess who that 'unknown source' is.

12/28/2008 - Panel Congress was misled on Iraq uranium issue    

12/28/2008 - Colin Powell endorses Obama    

12/28/2008 - Russia ratchets up US tensions with arms sales to Iran and Venezuela    

12/28/2008 - Russia says U.S. fuelling tension with Syria attack Russia accused the United States of fuelling dangerous tension in the Middle East on Monday after Syria said that U.S. helicopters had attacked a farm near the border with Iraq.  

12/28/2008 - Russia's Medvedev: Attack on Iran will endanger entire world    

12/28/2008 - Dick Cheney's fantasy world By Scott Ritter The vice-president should re-check both his history and his facts. Just prior to President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, the UN had teams of weapons inspectors operating inside Iraq, blanketing the totality of Iraq's industrial infrastructure. They found no evidence of either retained WMD, or efforts undertaken by Iraq to reconstitute a WMD manufacturing capability.  

12/28/2008 - US confronts possibility of long, deep recession    

12/28/2008 - Ahmadinejad warns of response if Iran attacked    

12/28/2008 - EuCom deploys radar, troops to Israel U.S. European Command has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil.  

12/28/2008 - Iran - an attack is still possible What happened between Passover and Rosh Hashanah? The U.S. administration made it clear to Israel that it objects to an attack on Iran. The possibility that the United States itself will attack Iran appears to be negligible, in light of the severe economic crisis and American military entanglement in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

12/28/2008 - Tehran could make 60 nuclear bombs in two years, says US expert In an interview with AKI, Sokolski raised the alarm about Iran's intentions, claiming that it would have sufficient plutonium after the opening of the Bushehr plant to construct from 30 to 60 bombs. More about Sokolski here.

12/28/2008 - Former US admiral says to Israel Don't fear Iran "They are not nearly as strong as their rhetoric indicates," Fallon said of Iran....He also dismissed Iran's calls to destroy Israel as nothing more than rhetoric.  

12/28/2008 - Warning signs of an Israeli strike on Iran Some key decision makers in Israel fear that unless they attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities in the next few months, while George W Bush is still president, there will not be another period when they can rely on the United States as being anywhere near as supportive in the aftermath of a unilateral attack.  

12/28/2008 - US officer warns Israel not to hit Iran "But it would not be the right thing to do, it will open up another front and this is not going to help the situation in the region, Iraq or Afghanistan," said the officer. "A diplomatic solution is the only logical answer."  

12/28/2008 - Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist the story wasn't picked up by the world's media.  

12/28/2008 - Israel warns Obama against dialogue with Iran Asked if she supported any US dialogue with Iran, Ms Livni replied: "The answer is no."  

12/28/2008 - Iran says Israeli partners in war to be punished Chairman of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Seyyed Mohammad Hejazi said that Iran would punish Israel's assistants in the war against the country  

12/28/2008 - A Nuclear Umbrella by Philip Giraldi The Israeli left-of-center newspaper Haaretz is reporting that the Obama administration will offer Israel a ?nuclear umbrella? which will consist of a strategic agreement whereby Washington will carry out a devastating nuclear attack on Iran if the Mullahs use a nuclear weapon to attack Israel.  

12/28/2008 - Obama to offer Israel nuclear umbrella report the Haaretz daily said Washington would pledge under the proposed "nuclear umbrella" to respond to any Iranian nuclear strike against Israel with a U.S. retaliation in kind.  

12/28/2008 - Iran wants to undermine US-Iraq troops deal Pentagon    

12/28/2008 - US lawmakers approve tougher sanctions on Iran The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said she supported the bill, but it did not go far enough. "This weak legislation will send a message to our enemies of a weakened U.S. position on the issue of Iran," she said.  

12/28/2008 - Israel Asked US for Green Light to Bomb Nuclear Sites in Iran Bush's decision to refuse to offer any support for a strike on Iran appeared to be based on two factors, the sources said. One was US concern over Iran's likely retaliation, which would probably include a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf. Wow. Did our interests actually prevail? Course, it isn't over yet. Bush is still in office.

12/28/2008 - Syria Hardens Stance On U.S. After Raid, Demands Closure Of U.S. Cultural Center, School; Embassy Closing For Damascus Protests Syria hardened its stance against the U.S. on Wednesday, threatening to cut off cooperation on Iraqi border security while demanding America apologize and promise not to repeat a deadly cross-border raid into its territory.  

12/28/2008 - Syria asks U.N. council to prevent new U.S. attacks    

12/28/2008 - New, Controversial FBI Guidelines Go Into Effect "It appears that with these guidelines, the attorney general is once again giving the FBI broad new powers to conduct surveillance and use other intrusive investigative techniques on Americans without requiring any indication of wrongdoing or any approval even from FBI supervisors,"  

12/28/2008 - Muslim soldier fought for America and his faith On Sunday, Powell said that Khan's sacrifice and service had swayed him to discuss the way that Muslims have been portrayed in the presidential campaign, and the contention that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is a Muslim. Obama "is a Christian," Powell said. "He has always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, 'What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That is not America."  

12/28/2008 - McCain's neocon warmonger by Patrick J. Buchanan Scheunemann is the neocon agent in place in McCain's camp. The neocons got their war with Iraq. They are pushing for war on Iran. And they are now baiting the Russian Bear.  

12/28/2008 - Attack on Iran Off the Table It is a curious twist, but to their great credit our senior military officers, Admiral William Fallon, who quit rather than let himself be on the receiving end of an order to attack Iran, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, fought and continue to fight a rear-guard action against the dreams and plans of "the crazies" in the White House to attack Iran......From the Israeli press we know that Mullen went so far as to warn his Israeli counterparts not to even think about another incident like the one on June 8, 1967, when Israeli jets and torpedo boats deliberately did their utmost to sink the intelligence collector, USS Liberty, off the Sinai coast. For Mullen a gutsy move. The Israelis know that Mullen knows that that attack was deliberate-not some sort of unfortunate mistake.  

12/28/2008 - America's Superpower Status Threatened by Financial Crisis    

12/28/2008 - Iraq Condemns US Raid on Syrian Village The operation on Sunday, in which US helicopters landed 24 special forces troops in Sukkariyeh, five miles inside Syria near the border town of Abu Kamal, was carried out by the CIA according to US officials in Washington  

12/28/2008 - Candidate Biden U.S., Israel Joined at the Hip America's security is directly tied to Israel's, said U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) last Friday during a stop in Philadelphia. ....."Israel is our ally. If Israel did not exist, we'd have to invent it for our own national security." Abject bullshit.

12/28/2008 - Iran leader offers Obama landmark congratulations    

12/28/2008 - Fearing attack, Iran militia holds massive defense drill An Iranian militia held civil defense drills on Sunday to prepare for any air strikes and the military said it could close a waterway crucial for world oil supplies if Iran was attacked.  

12/28/2008 - Zbigniew Brzezinski: Israel's push for Iran strike may hurt U.S. ties Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, said in an interview with Haaretz over the weekend that Israel will do harm to its relations with the United States if it insists on lobbying Washington for an American military strike on Iran.  

12/28/2008 - Bunker-busting bombs added to U.S. arsenal The bomb and spy plane seem aimed at Iran's efforts to build nuclear weapons, says John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org  

12/28/2008 - US Task Force Found Few Iranian Arms in Iraq The caches that included Iranian weapons thus represented just 2 percent of all caches found. That means Iranian-made weapons were a fraction of one percent of the total weapons found in Shi'a militia caches during that period.  

12/28/2008 - Syria goes on defensive as IAEA prepares to release nuclear report "It's not highly enriched uranium. It could have come from so many different ways," ElBaradei told reporters in Dubai.  

12/28/2008 - Bush America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon Transportation Minister and Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz also gave a speech at the Saban Center Friday, where he said a nuclear Iran is not an option and Israel won't allow a second Holocaust  

12/28/2008 - Syria "safe haven" for terrorists against Iraq - U.S. The United States criticised Syria at a security conference on Sunday for "giving safe haven to terrorists" attacking Iraq, weeks after a U.S. raid on Syria it said was targeting al Qaeda militants, delegates said.  

12/28/2008 - Intel says Iran plans secret nuclear experiments    

12/28/2008 - IAEA chief ElBaradei: Let Syria have nuclear aid Syria's bid for aid in planning a nuclear power plant poses no bomb-making risk and a Western move to block the project threatens to discredit the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA's director said in remarks released on Tuesday.  

12/28/2008 - How the Recession Could End the Iraq War A year ago, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from 2001-2017 to be around $2 trillion, or more ? factoring in some $705 billion in interest payments in recognition of the fact that the war is being funded with borrowed money.  

12/28/2008 - IAEA chief baffled over lack of Syria nuclear info The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said his agency's Syria probe has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market.  

12/28/2008 - Diplomats: No evidence Syria site bombed by IAF was nuclear reactor Diplomats say partial results of samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel last September show nothing to back up U.S. assertions that the target was a secret nuclear reactor.  

12/28/2008 - Diplomats Syria passes 1st test of nuclear probe Diplomats say partial results of samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel show nothing to back up U.S. assertions that the target was a secret nuclear reactor.  

12/28/2008 - Former Aipac Lobbyists Are Said To Be Hopeful of a New Review of Their Case Sources on the defense team have speculated that a possible Obama nominee to head the justice system could be more receptive to pleas to dismiss the case. Really now.

12/28/2008 - Report: Iranian Officials Recommend Preemptive Strike Against Israel Top officials in Iran are proposing a preemptive strike against Israel to avoid an assault on its nuclear reactors, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday.  

12/28/2008 - Israeli Air Force 'Ready for Iran's Nuclear Sites' Speculation of a U.S.-approved Israeli strike on Iran, fueled by an Israeli attack in Syria last year and by reports of long-range bombing exercises this summer, has faded as the Bush administration prepares to hand over power to President-elect Barack Obama.  

12/28/2008 - Iranian leader says he opposes Israel, not Israelis "We are opposed to the idea that the people who live there should be thrown into the sea or be burnt," he said. "We believe that all the people who live there, the Jews, Muslims and Christians, should take part in a free referendum and choose their government,"  

12/28/2008 - Iran is a threat, but the West can't afford to have Israel bomb it - yet As the Israeli media reported yesterday, the plans for an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities have reached the stage where Jerusalem has presented the Bush administration with an inventory of the military equipment it needs to ensure the mission is a success.  

12/28/2008 - Defense establishment paper: Golan for Syria peace, plan for Iran strike A defense establishment paper recommends making contingency plans to attack Iran, reaching an agreement with Syria that includes leaving the Golan Heights and preventing new elections in the Palestinian Authority, even if this means a confrontation with the United States.  

12/28/2008 - Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial The group was accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an Islamist organization the government declared to be a terrorist group in 1995.  

12/28/2008 - Of Import: How Israel helps eavesdrop on US citizens Virtually all US voice and data communications and much from the rest of the world can be remotely accessed by these companies in Israel, which Bamford describes as "the eavesdropping capital of the world." America, sit up and take notice. I've got this latest book by Bamford, and I've yet to read it. Bamford is usually pretty thorough.

12/28/2008 - AIPAC's Man in the Obama Camp - by Philip Giraldi   This link may have moved.

12/28/2008 - Under section entitled 'Howard Kohr' the public debate over the role of the pro-Israel lobby in shaping American policy has had virtually no visible adverse effect on Aipac. Membership continues to grow, as do revenues, and its access to Capitol Hill seems unimpeded. This year the group succeeded in pushing tough anti-Iran legislation through Congress, winning final confirmation just last month.  

12/28/2008 - The Making of Recent U.S. Middle East Policies The right wing of Israeli politics, the neoconservatives in the U.S. who strongly support Israel, and the aging Israel lobby in the United States all have worked together, and are still doing so, to bring about more wars, regime changes, and instability, specifically the fragmentation of any Middle Eastern states that might ever conceivably threaten Israel. Bill and Kathleen Christison are both former CIA.

12/28/2008 - Carter meets with political leader of Hamas in Syria The five-hour meeting ended late Sunday and covered several issues, including Cpl. Gilad Shalit -- an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas since June 2006, the official said.  

12/28/2008 - CIA chief says strike on Syria was collaboration with 'foreign partner' Israel has never given an account of the strike or formally confirmed that it took place and some Israeli officials have quietly voiced dismay at U.S. disclosures about the strike.  

12/28/2008 - Some Israelis feel an urgency to attack Iran U.S. officials fear that an attack would trigger violent repercussions, most notably a wider regional conflict that would inevitably force the entry of American troops. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said he does not intend to get involved in another war when he has his hands full with Iraq and Afghanistan.  

12/28/2008 - Condoleezza Rice Urges U.N. To Address Iran Threat To Israel Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she would ask the U.N. Security Council to take up the matter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats against Israel. For which nation does Condi work?

12/28/2008 - Debate Flares Over Israel's Access to American Secrets In his latest book, published in October by DoubleDay, Bamford writes that the largest American telecommunications companies cooperated with the NSA in the ?warrantless eavesdropping program by allowing the agency to tap its phone lines and fiber-optic cables.? To do so, he writes, the telecom giants resorted to the assistance of at least two high-tech firms, Narus and Verint, founded in Israel and with alleged ties to its intelligence services.  

12/28/2008 - Members of Israeli spy ring 'related to 9/11 hijacker' Two men arrested for running an Israeli spy ring in the Bekaa Valley are relatives of a suicide hijacker who piloted a plane in the September 11, 2001, attacks, a security source told The Daily Star on Sunday Now that's interesting.

12/28/2008 - Olmert-Bush Talks on PA May be Window Dressing for Striking Iran The announced agenda is negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, but a possible attack on Iran's nuclear site may be the main topic of the summit.  

12/28/2008 - Rahm Emanuel's father: An Israeli terrorist? It was described as "terrorist" at the time by Britain. Mr Emanuel's appointment could reassure Israel that Mr Obama will continue America's close alliance.  

12/28/2008 - U.S. Jews laud Obama pick of Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff "Emanuel has deep Jewish roots and strong ties to the Jewish community. Emanuel, the son of an Israeli immigrant, has a proven commitment to Israel's security and served as civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the Persian Gulf War of 1991,"  

12/28/2008 - Conned Again In "Hail to the Chief of Staff," Alexander Cockburn describes Emanuel as "a super-Likudnik hawk," who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 "made great efforts to knock out antiwar Democratic candidates."  

12/28/2008 - IAEA irked at "premature" Syria nuclear disclosures The U.N. nuclear watchdog criticized on Tuesday diplomatic disclosures that it had found uranium traces at a Syrian site under investigation, saying this was an effort to prejudge the agency's conclusions.  

12/28/2008 - Syria suggests Israeli bombs may be source of uranium traces Syria's foreign minister suggested Wednesday that Israeli bombs may be the source of uranium traces that diplomats at the U.N. nuclear agency said were found at a suspected nuclear site  

12/28/2008 - Report: Obama views 'have serious implications for Israel' The Begin-Sadat Center cited Obama's plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and reconcile with Iran and Syria in concluding that the forthcoming Obama administration was likely to clash with the next Israeli government.  

12/28/2008 - Rahm Emanuel apologizes for father's disparaging remarks about Arabs U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel apologized to an Arab-American group on Thursday for comments disparaging Arabs made by his father.  

12/28/2008 - 'Iran will have nukes within two years' "It's a matter of a couple [of] years, one to two years, not more than that, until Iran is capable of coming out with nuclear capability," Ya'alon told a gathering of North American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.  

12/28/2008 - Israel expects U.S.-Iran talks under Obama    

12/28/2008 - Abu Nidal, notorious Palestinian mercenary, 'was a US spy' By Robert Fisk    

12/28/2008 - More 'Conservative' Praise for Obama by Philip Giraldi If it is the latter, it would also mean that war with Iran is a virtual certainty. I think it is the latter, that Obama will continue Washington?s unquestioning support for Israel, but I hope I will be proven wrong  

12/28/2008 - Surging for Hillary by Philip Giraldi Brooks understandably regards Hillary?s support of Kyl-Lieberman as well as every other piece of anti-Iran legislation as ?pragmatic.? He also shared her enthusiastic support of war against Iraq. Nor is he disturbed that Ross was so pro-Israel in his lean during Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David that he was even criticized by a colleague Aaron Miller. Rahm?s tilt on the Middle East is also well documented, close to AIPAC, and presumably a comfortable fit for Brooks  

12/28/2008 - The Usual Suspects by Philip Giraldi The report itself was written by Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute. Task force members included Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute on Near East Policy and Kenneth Weinstein, who heads the Hudson Institute, both regarded as strongly pro-Israeli  

12/28/2008 - U.S. approves sale to Israel of 25 F-35 fighter jets The Israeli embassy in Washington bent over backwards to have the deal approved by the current Congress, and a critical development in the legislation was achieved this weekend.  

12/28/2008 - U.S. report Hezbollah fought Israel better than any Arab army The authors give a high grade to Hezbollah's performance in the 2006 war, describing it as more effective than that of any Arab army that confronted Israel in the Jewish state's history, and that Hezbollah militants wounded more Israelis per fighter than any previous Arab effort.  

12/28/2008 - U.S. spies on Israel nukes, govt official history The United States routinely spies on Israel to try to gather information on its assumed atomic arsenal and secret government deliberations, a new official history of Israel's intelligence services says.  

12/28/2008 - U.S. to sell IAF smart bombs for heavily fortified target Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced.  

12/28/2008 - Israel slams fresh Arab move to isolate it at IAEA Israel on Monday condemned the renewed Iranian-backed Arab effort to isolate it at a UN atomic watchdog assembly. Arab League states prepared to table a resolution called "Israel's nuclear capabilities" urging all Middle East states not to test or develop atom bombs and not to stand in the way of a regional nuclear-free zone.  

12/28/2008 - Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack A familiar coalition of hawks, hardliners and neo-cons expects Obama's proposed talks with Iran to fail - and they're already proposing an escalating set of measures instead. Some are meant to occur alongside any future talks. These include steps to enhance coordination with Israel, tougher sanctions against Iran, and a region-wide military buildup of US strike forces, including the prepositioning of military supplies within striking distance of that country.  

12/28/2008 - Is Obama Clinton deja vu? by Philip Giraldi The FBI will find it very hard to learn what Emanuel?s ties to Israel were then and are now. Harman was investigated by the FBI in 2006 when she reportedly offered to intercede on behalf of the two AIPAC officials whose trial is still dragging on in Alexandria and there have been some suggestions that the investigation is still open  

12/28/2008 - Who Originated the 'Nuclear Umbrella for Israel' Proposal That would be Charles Krauthammer  

12/28/2008 - Bipartisanship and Threats of War Toward Iran Two former Senators -- conservative Democrat Chuck Robb and conservative Republican Dan Coats (that's what "bipartisan" means) -- have a jointly authored Op-Ed in The Washington Post today decreeing what the U.S. must do towards Iran. The essence: Iran must be prevented, using any means necessary, from not only obtaining nuclear weapons, but also denied even "the ability to quickly assemble a nuclear weapon," which means "the complete cessation of enrichment activities inside Iran," even for civilian purposes.  

12/28/2008 - This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House    

12/28/2008 - Former Bush press secretary backs Obama Scott McClellan, a former White House spokesman who criticized President George W. Bush in a tell-all memoir, said Thursday he plans to vote for Barack Obama.  

12/28/2008 - Lieberman: 'I Worry About' Whether Obama Has 'The Right Stuff To Bomb Iran' Asked if Obama had "the right stuff to bomb Iran if it came to that level," Lieberman replied, "I worry about that":  

12/28/2008 - Palin Foreign Policy 101 by Philip Giraldi Palin?s ban on Iran obtaining nuclear energy is a straight Neocon/AIPAC formulation, arguing that Tehran should never be able to master the nuclear fuel cycle because being able to enrich uranium is in and of itself the capability to produce a weapon somewhere down the road.  

12/28/2008 - The Partys Over By Patrick J. Buchanan John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or "bomb, bomb, bomb," with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.  

12/28/2008 - Why Israel will hit Iran soon There are essentially only three time periods to consider: (1) after the new president takes office, (2) after the U.S. election but before the new president is inaugurated, and (3) before the election.  

12/28/2008 - Olmert to head to Russia for talks on missiles sale to Iran The Israeli military establishment is becoming increasingly concerned over talks between Russia and Iran about the sale of S-300 antiaircraft missiles to Tehran. The deployment of these missiles would pose a major obstacle to any Israel Air Force operation against Iranian nuclear facilities.  

12/28/2008 - Israel's 'Get Out of Jail Free' Card - by Philip Giraldi The case of Ben-Ami Kadish is in some ways even more intriguing than that of the two AIPAC staffers. Kadish was arrested in New Jersey on April 22, 2008. A Department of Justice press release described how he was charged with "conspiracy to disclose to the government of Israel documents related to the national defense of the United States and ? that he participated in a conspiracy to act as an agent of the government of Israel."  

12/28/2008 - Israeli officials US sends radar to Israel The officials say the new radar was flown into Israel last week along with some 120 American crewmen and has been set up at the Nevatim air base in the Negev desert.  

12/28/2008 - Israelis Wary of a US Radar Base in the Negev The radar will allow the U.S. to keep a close watch on anything moving in Israeli skies, "even a bee", says one top Israeli official who asked not to be identified  

12/28/2008 - Joel Brinkley: Evidence grows that Israel is preparing to attack Iran Would Washington support an Israeli attack? Recently, the administration has given clear signals that it would not. But then, why did the Pentagon announce last month that it planned to sell Israel 1,000 new GBU-39 bunker-busting bombs? They are small weapons that can be dropped from the wings of the fighter jets in Israel's air force.  

12/28/2008 - Military intelligence Iran halfway to first nuclear bomb Iran is halfway to a nuclear bomb, and Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria are using this period of relative calm to significantly rearm, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, the Military Intelligence's head of research, told the cabinet Sunday during a particularly gloomy briefing on the threats facing the country.  

12/28/2008 - Obama Camp Rejects Jackson's Claim That He Would Diminish 'Zionist' Influence Barack Obama's campaign stepped in quickly Tuesday to distance itself from a claim by the Rev. Jesse Jackson that "Zionists" would lose clout under an Obama administration.  

12/28/2008 - Obama threatens dire consequences if Iran doesn't change its ways    

12/28/2008 - Obama's Neocon in Residence - by Philip Giraldi Ross is a commentator for Fox News and the Ziegler distinguished fellow at WINEP, which he helped found in the 1980s. He is also chairman of the Jerusalem- based Jewish People Policy Planning Institute. He would only be a spear-carrier in the latest neocon absurdity if it weren't for the fact that he is a major player in the Obama campaign as Obama's top adviser on the Middle East and a key link to AIPAC. Ross reportedly has been helping the Obama campaign formulate positions that AIPAC would be comfortable with.  

12/28/2008 - Retired American Generals Enter Israeli Politics Against Livni The two generals have been in close contact with hawkish policymakers and opinion leaders in Israel, and have visited the country several times. Their last trip was in the fall of 2006, after the Lebanon war, on a group visit by TV military analysts sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.  

12/28/2008 - Only military action can stop Iran, experts tell European Jews In attendance at the seminar - which the EJC organized with the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya - were experts such as Ian Anthony from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Uzi Arad from the IDC, and Alfred Pijpers from the Netherlands Institute of International Relations.  

12/28/2008 - Palin 'Only Flag in My Office' Is Israeli    

12/28/2008 - Palin promises to work with Israel's ambassador    

12/28/2008 - Peres U.S. has no choice but to save world from Ahmadinejad The United States has no choice but to save the world by stopping Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Shimon Peres told Israel Radio on Thursday. Really now.

12/28/2008 - After years of Bush, Arabs see hope in Obama heaviest on most Arabs' minds is the question of how strongly Obama will push the peace process with Israel.  

12/28/2008 - Defeating McCain Ending Not Only Neocon Policies, but Also Tactics   I guess we all spoke too soon on this one, seeing as how Obama has filled up his administration with neocons/Israel-firsters.

12/28/2008 - Cleaning Floors and Other Parables for Our Time by Philip Giraldi    

12/28/2008 - U.S. Radar in Israel What's it For, Really (Updated) Danger Room from Wired.com the system in Israel is quite similar to the radar that the U.S. wanted so badly to install in the Czech Republic earlier this year, as part of its larger missile defense shield  

12/28/2008 - 'Attack Iran!' crowd new internet ad campaign The individual who runs the site out of Rockefeller Center in NYC, Henley MacIntyre, is also mentioned in this blog post. You may want to note the neocon/pro-Israel ties that are naturally involved when it comes to groups such as this that want to 'stop Iran'.  

12/28/2008 - Palin Questions Obama's Support Of Israel - From The Road    

12/28/2008 - Palin Warns Of 'Second Holocaust' Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said Friday that if Iran develops nuclear weapons it could lead to a second Holocaust.  

12/28/2008 - Ben White Israel seems wedded to brute force in the Middle East    

12/28/2008 - Report: Israel believes Syria renewing its nuclear activity    

12/28/2008 - When It Comes to Palestine and Israel, the US Simply Doesn't Get It by Robert Fisk Israelis deserve security. But where were the promises of security for Palestinians? Or the sympathy which Americans would immediately grant any other occupied people?  




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