Regional war is ahead? - Page 3 - The Orange Room

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Abu muqawama's take on the resignationExtra! Extra! Cowardly peace-monger retires; glorious war on Iran to begin by June; American soldiers to be greeted as liberators

WASHINGTON — Adm. William J. Fallon, the top American commander in the Middle East whose views on Iran and other issues have seemed to put him at odds with the Bush administration, is retiring early, the Pentagon said Tuesday afternoon.

The retirement of Admiral Fallon, 63, who only a year ago became the first Navy man to be named the commander of the United States Central Command, was announced by his civilian boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who said that he accepted the admiral’s request to retire “with reluctance and regret.”

Update: Charlie, here. Check out the (fawning) profile by Thomas Barnett that served as the last straw.

As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William "Fox" Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world.

Actually, turns out, we here in the United States do still have something called "civilian control of the military." Looks like Fox found that out the hard way...though Charlie might be persuaded to give him a medal for avoiding another ill-fated invasion.

Update II: AM here. Just found the statement by Gates on Small Wars Journal. At two points in the press conference, Sec. Gates points his finger in Abu Muqawama's direction and judges the speculation that Adm. Fallon's departure signals some kind of shift in strategy toward Iran "ridiculous." If Abu Muqawama were at the press conference, though, he would have dusted himself off and asked what role tensions between Gen. Petraeus and Adm. Fallon might have played in all this. We hear the good general and the admiral aren't going to be taking any vacations together anytime soon.

Abu muqawama's blog

CEDARLAND

CEDARLAND

6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran
World Report

Is the United States moving toward military action with Iran?

The resignation of the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East is setting off alarms that the Bush administration is intent on using military force to stop Iran's moves toward gaining nuclear weapons. In announcing his sudden resignation today following a report on his views in Esquire, Adm. William Fallon didn't directly deny that he differs with President Bush over at least some aspects of the president's policy on Iran. For his part, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it is "ridiculous" to think that the departure of Fallon -- whose Central Command has been working on contingency plans for strikes on Iran as well as overseeing Iraq -- signals that the United States is planning to go to war with Iran.

Fallon's resignation, ending a 41-year Navy career, has reignited the buzz of speculation over what the Bush administration intends to do given that its troubled, sluggish diplomatic effort has failed to slow Iran's nuclear advances. Those activities include the advancing process of uranium enrichment, a key step to producing the material necessary to fuel a bomb, though the Iranians assert the work is to produce nuclear fuel for civilian power reactors, not weapons.

Here are six developments that may have Iran as a common thread. And, if it comes to war, they may be seen as clues as to what was planned. None of them is conclusive, and each has a credible non-Iran related explanation:

1. Fallon's resignation: With the Army fully engaged in Iraq, much of the contingency planning for possible military action has fallen to the Navy, which has looked at the use of carrier-based warplanes and sea-launched missiles as the weapons to destroy Iran's air defenses and nuclear infrastructure. Centcom commands the U.S. naval forces in and near the Persian Gulf. In the aftermath of the problems with the Iraq war, there has been much discussion within the military that senior military officers should have resigned at the time when they disagreed with the White House.

2. Vice President Cheney's peace trip: Cheney, who is seen as a leading hawk on Iran, is going on what is described as a Mideast trip to try to give a boost to stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But he has also scheduled two other stops: One, Oman, is a key military ally and logistics hub for military operations in the Persian Gulf. It also faces Iran across the narrow, vital Strait of Hormuz, the vulnerable oil transit chokepoint into and out of the Persian Gulf that Iran has threatened to blockade in the event of war. Cheney is also going to Saudi Arabia, whose support would be sought before any military action given its ability to increase oil supplies if Iran's oil is cut off. Back in March 2002, Cheney made a high-profile Mideast trip to Saudi Arabia and other nations that officials said at the time was about diplomacy toward Iraq and not war, which began a year later.

3. Israeli airstrike on Syria: Israel's airstrike deep in Syria last October was reported to have targeted a nuclear-related facility, but details have remained sketchy and some experts have been skeptical that Syria had a covert nuclear program. An alternative scenario floating in Israel and Lebanon is that the real purpose of the strike was to force Syria to switch on the targeting electronics for newly received Russian anti-aircraft defenses. The location of the strike is seen as on a likely flight path to Iran (also crossing the friendly Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq), and knowing the electronic signatures of the defensive systems is necessary to reduce the risks for warplanes heading to targets in Iran.

4. Warships off Lebanon: Two U.S. warships took up positions off Lebanon earlier this month, replacing the USS Cole. The deployment was said to signal U.S. concern over the political stalemate in Lebanon and the influence of Syria in that country. But the United States also would want its warships in the eastern Mediterranean in the event of military action against Iran to keep Iranian ally Syria in check and to help provide air cover to Israel against Iranian missile reprisals. One of the newly deployed ships, the USS Ross, is an Aegis guided missile destroyer, a top system for defense against air attacks.

5. Israeli comments: Israeli President Shimon Peres said earlier this month that Israel will not consider unilateral action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. In the past, though, Israeli officials have quite consistently said they were prepared to act alone -- if that becomes necessary -- to ensure that Iran does not cross a nuclear weapons threshold. Was Peres speaking for himself, or has President Bush given the Israelis an assurance that they won't have to act alone?

6.Israel's war with Hezbollah: While this seems a bit old, Israel's July 2006 war in Lebanon against Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces was seen at the time as a step that Israel would want to take if it anticipated a clash with Iran. The radical Shiite group is seen not only as a threat on it own but also as a possible Iranian surrogate force in the event of war with Iran. So it was important for Israel to push Hezbollah forces back from their positions on Lebanon's border with Israel and to do enough damage to Hezbollah's Iranian-supplied arsenals to reduce its capabilities. Since then, Hezbollah has been able to rearm, though a United Nations force polices a border area buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

Defense Secretary Gates said that Fallon, 63, asked for permission to retire. Gates said that the decision, effective March 31, was entirely Fallon's and that Gates believed it was "the right thing to do." In Esquire, an article on Fallon portrayed him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy and said he was a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program. In his statement, Fallon said he agreed with the president's "policy objectives" but was silent on whether he opposed aspects of the president's plans. "Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region," Fallon, said in the statement issued by Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Fla. "And although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there," he said. Gates announced that Fallon's top deputy, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, will take over temporarily when Fallon leaves. A permanent successor, requiring nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate, might not be designated in the near term.
This is the kind of speculation that drives up oil prices to a new record every day.
We shall see.
03/11/2008 5

06 PM PDT by o_zarkman44

Zayn

The article above brings up some very interesting points.

Attacking Iran would be a disaster for the USA and Israel, though.

CEDARLAND

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zayn

The article above brings up some very interesting points.

Attacking Iran would be a disaster for the USA and Israel, though.

If a regional war does break out, our troops will then have to fight Syrians and Iranians as well as thousands of very successful guerrillas (Irak) and the losses would oust the Bush people without fail.

Well, at the risk of being called a cynic, many have said this would happen but until it does, no one listens or cares.

www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2429.htm

Aoun4lebanon

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEDARLAND

If a regional war does break out, our troops will then have to fight Syrians and Iranians as well as thousands of very successful guerrillas (Irak) and the losses would oust the Bush people without fail.

Well, at the risk of being called a cynic, many have said this would happen but until it does, no one listens or cares.

www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2429.htm

Cedarland, sorry maybe I didnt uderstand you. What did you mean by our troops? the Lebanese Army?

I think people have to understand the difference between two terminologies. Invaders / resistant , occupiers / owners , terrorists/defenders

CEDARLAND

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aoun4lebanon

Cedarland, sorry maybe I didnt uderstand you. What did you mean by our troops? the Lebanese Army?

I think people have to understand the difference between two terminologies. Invaders / resistant , occupiers / owners , terrorists/defenders

Take it easy! I was just quoting the source listed below. Obviously he is making reference to the US army. Full article can be accessed here. Definitely, it is insightful and worth reading.

Voice of the White House July 14, 2006
TBR News.org July 14, 2006
www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=4797

CEDARLAND

salesmanship of war
Israel raises the ante against Iran
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi Asia Times March 14, 2008

We are in no danger at all of having an Iranian nuclear weapon dropped on us. We cannot say so too openly, however, because we have a history of using any threat in order to get weapons. Thanks to the Iranian threat, we are getting weapons from the US and Germany - Israeli author, Martin van Crevled, June 2007.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on a speaking tour in the United States, putting her considerable personal charm in the service of a shrewd salesmanship - of a US war on Iran.

Although considered a dove by Israeli standards, Livni is now on a historic mission that has begun with a pre-travel warmer in the form of a highly publicized telephone call to the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, assuring him that there is direct linkage "between Iran and the terror groups".

Coinciding with the ominous news that US CENTCOM chief Admiral William Fallon has resigned - or been sacked - for his opposition to a war with Iran, Livni hopes to harvest a blowing wind of war against another Middle Eastern country that dares to challenge Israel's regional hegemony. It is a familiar story with a recent precedent in Iraq and a script for action, requiring high-pitched public diplomacy with the help of a vast network of sympathetic media pundits, that Israel has fully mastered.

In compensation for a job well done, Mylroie landed a full professorship at a US university, despite the fully questionable and empirically refuted nature of her unfounded allegations against Saddam. Who knows, maybe she is even the recipient of an Israeli medal of honor for her unique salesmanship of war.

This time, however, with the stakes on Iran relatively higher, the discrete charm of the affable Livni is fully required to pave the way for another disastrous war in the Middle East

CEDARLAND

USS LIBERTY
Just another WordPress.com weblog
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SECONDS FROM NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST
March 12, 2008 Phillip F. Tourney, Survivor June 8, 1967 tonktime5@yahoo.com

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

My fellow Americans, I sit here at 3:00 am with my heart racing and my hands shaking and I ask that you please take a moment to read my letter. I ask not that you read it for my sake, but rather for your own and for your children and grandchildren.

JUNE 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, we came as close to a nuclear war than anytime in history and it scares me to death as it should you. For the benefit of those who do not know what happened (the result of a deliberate campaign of cover-up and censorship by a Zionist-owned media in America) I will give you a quick history lesson. It all started on a beautiful bright, sunny day 40 years ago. Our ship, the USS LIBERTY, was sailing off the coast of Sinai, doing 5 knots. The LIBERTY was the most sophisticated intelligence gathering platform in the world at that time. We were in international waters gathering intelligence, plucking it from the air, which we had every right to do. We were doing what our government ordered us to do.

Early in the morning we began to see Israeli aircraft coming very close to our ship, some so close we could see the pilots waving at us. As we waved back we could clearly see the Star of David on the aircraft. This went on for many hours. Our flag was flying (as always) GTR-5 was painted on both sides of her bow and “USS LIBERTY” was clearly painted on her stern. There could be no mistake as to who we were. Israel knew we were American and we knew we had been identified as American and friendly as the Israelis themselves have since admitted. They plotted us on their war table and made positive ID of our ship as the LIBERTY. The crew all knew the war was still ongoing and we all took comfort in the fact that our Israeli friends had come to visit us. It made all of us feel safer, just in case one of the Arab combatants got spunky and came after us as we all knew Israel would be there to protect their American friends and allies.

We had been on station for approximately 7 to 8 hours. Suddenly, at 2:00 all hell broke loose. We were being attacked by jet aircraft. On their first pass they took out our 4 fifty-caliber machine guns, all of our antennae and our moon dish. Everything we had to communicate with was destroyed. They continued their air assault for about 30 minutes using rockets, canons and napalm which they dropped on the bridge to try and burn us alive. Fifteen minutes into their vicious attack Terry Halbadier got an antenna to work and we began broadcasting “under attack, under attack by unknown jet aircraft.” The jets were unmarked, hiding the identity of our attackers. The USS SARATOGA, commanded by Captain Tully, sent aircraft to our aid only to have them recalled by voice from Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. Again, Captain Tully ordered rescue aircraft to come to our aid. Then, President Lyndon Johnson got on the phone and ordered the recall himself, saying “I don’t give a God **** if every man on board that ship dies, I will not embarrass our ally, Israel

Now, if we didn’t know who was attacking us until much later into the attack how did the poll cat Johnson know it was the Israelis that were attacking us? The reason is simple–we were set up by our own government as pawns to let Israel have her way with us. Why else would our government recall the life-saving aircraft when we were still under attack?

When the jets got through with us they sent the torpedo boats, three of them. Then and only then did we become aware of who was attacking us. We could see their flags on their boats with the Star of David on them. We were horrified that our so-called ‘ally’ was doing this to us. The word went out we were under attack by Israeli torpedo boats. This was picked up as far away as Vietnam and many other listening posts around the world. Still no help from our government. We were on our own.

The torpedo boats fired five torpedoes at us, one hitting its mark midships, instantly slaughtering 25 American sons. The torpedo boats kept up the attack, I guess, until they ran out of ammunition, shooting at our boilers, firefighters, stretcher bearers, anything that moved. The captain ordered us to prepare to abandon ship.

We put over 3 life rafts, all that remained that would float. We were going to put our most severely wounded men in them. The Israelis would have none of that and shot two of them out of the water and took one aboard their boat as a trophy.

The torpedo boats left and then came Israeli helicopters with armed troops, ready to board our ship and finish us off. They hovered over us like vultures ready for the kill and suddenly they left. We found out later that they left because they knew we had gotten messages out that it was Israel doing the murdering not any Arab state.

When all was said and done in this almost two hour attack, 34 men were murdered, 174 were wounded. There were over 821 canon and rocket holes in our ship. Thousands of 50caliber armor piercing bullets riddled her skin and there was a 40 x 40 foot torpedo hole in her side. The LIBERTY was the most heavily damaged ship in modern history including WWII.

We did not receive any help from our government for 18 hours after the attack when help was only 15 - 20 minutes away. Why was our government willing to sacrifice 294 American sailors, marines and the finest intelligence ship in the world? That’s what we all were wondering. A few days later, Admiral Isaac Kidd came aboard our ship and ordered every crewman never to speak a word about what happened to us to other crewmen, parents, family, no one under penalty of prison or worse and we all knew what worse meant.

We took the ship to Malta. The dead were removed from the torpedo space and the ship was repaired and painted to look brand new, as if nothing had ever happened.

I stayed silent for many years. I was so afraid to say anything as was the rest of the crew. In about 1983-1984 I read a book called Assault on the Liberty by James Ennes Jr., an intelligence officer onboard when we were attacked. I began asking questions of the navy, congress, anyone I could write to find out answers to a simple question why our government went along with the cover-up as it is still doing today. The standard answer you get from congress is there have already been many investigations which is a bold face lie and I have told them that. All you have to do is check the congressional record and you will see there has never been any investigation except for the sham Board of Inquiry which was a white wash and only took 6 days to complete. Isaac Kidd signed off on it as did Captain Ward Boston, Admiral John McCain Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson all in a matter of 10 days. The conclusion? Mistaken identity!! Captain Boston has recanted what was in the Board of Inquiry as a pack of lies. He was ordered to sign off by none other than Admiral John McCain Jr., Senator McCain’s father.

The fact is we were set up to sink fast, blame it on Egypt and bring the U.S. into the war. This was the deal made by our government and the Israeli Government. This government will not help us get the truth out. They are knee-deep in bed with the Israeli Lobby, AIPAC and every other Israeli interest out there. Our elected officials sold us out then and they are still selling us out now. Israel is committing war crimes on Americans and our government could care less. This country is not “We the Government” it is “We the People” and if we don’t take our government back soon it is nobody’s fault but our own.

What I found out later is our government was 120 seconds away from dropping nuclear bombs on Cairo, Egypt and they would have if the LIBERTY would have sunk. The LIBERTY staying afloat was an act of God. He kept us afloat to tell you the truth. If our government would have nuked Cairo you can bet the Soviet Union would have retaliated in kind on the American people. This was a pact with the devil with only the greater interest of Israel in mind.

My fellow Americans, look what is going on in the Middle East today. It all goes back to the Six Day War 40 years ago. We need you to email your representatives in Congress and demand an investigation into the attack on the LIBERTY. Remember, they work for us, we don’t work for them. As futile as it may seem, we must at least TRY to take our country back from Israel before it is too late, if indeed it is not already.

Miracles have hinged on smaller odds than this. Look at what happened to us 40 years ago–we should have been dead, sunk to the bottom of the sea and yet we stayed afloat, as I said, by the hand of God. It was a miracle. Remember, Israel didn’t just attack the LIBERTY, she attacked America with our government’s help, and remember, as the old saying goes, ‘A leopard does not change its spots’. What this gang of criminals has done once it will do again, and this time, chances are that we will not be as lucky as we were 40 years ago. Despite all the propaganda we hear, Israel is not our friend. No friend treats us as she has. She would just as soon slit our throats as look at us, and this is not a theory, it is a fact proven by history

CEDARLAND