U.S., Israeli forces to start large-scale exercise amid regional tension

[Eckhart Tolle]

A soldier from V Corps’ Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion 7th Air Defense Artillery, positions a Patriot missile launcher in Tel Yona, Israel, as part of field training supporting exercise Juniper Cobra 05. The bi-annual exercise, to be held next month, comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and Iran.


Exercise to start amid regional tension

U.S., Israeli forces to test missile defense while Iran simmers

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Elizabeth Hibner / Courtesy of the U.S. Army

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64775

STUTTGART, Germany — Some 1,000 U.S. European Command troops will soon deploy to Israel for a large-scale missile defense exercise with Israeli forces.

This year’s Juniper Cobra comes at a time of continued concern about Iran’s nuclear program, which will be the subject of talks in October. Iranian officials will meet with multiple nations, including the U.S., to negotiate the program, which many in the international community suspect is being developed for weapons.

The command denied that the training mission was directly linked to regional threats.

"This is not a response to the Iran threat," said Lt. Cmdr. Taylor Clark, European Command spokesman.

The U.S. troops, from all four branches of service, will work alongside an equal number of Israel Defense Force personnel, taking part in computer-simulated war games intended to ensure the two countries can jointly respond to a crisis.

The exercise, slated for mid-October, also will be conducted amid widespread speculation about U.S. plans for its controversial missile defense program, proposed to be anchored in Europe with missile interceptors in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic.

The proposal has long angered Russia, which views the program as a threat. But recent reports in the Polish press have claimed that plans for a site in Poland have been scrapped by the U.S., which could be looking at alternative locations.

And last week, the Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. and Israeli officials have engaged in informal talks about placing elements of the system in the Jewish state.

The Israeli Defense Force did not respond to an inquiry about potentially playing host to U.S. missile defense systems.

Retired Gen. James Jones, the U.S. national security adviser, earlier this month said the missile defense program continues to be reviewed by the Obama administration, which is looking at technical concerns as well as the program’s cost. During his Sept. 1 visit to Gdansk, Poland, Jones said no decision on the fate of the program had been reached and that the U.S. remained committed to Polish security.

"General Jones stressed that the aim of the review is to enhance European and American defense in light of an emerging threat from Iran," a White House news release stated.

U.S. troops have been busy in Israel this year.

In April, about 100 Europe-based personnel took part in a missile defense exercise that for the first time incorporated a U.S.-owned radar system, which was deployed to the country in October 2008. The U.S. X-Band radar is intended to give Israel early warning in the event of a missile launch from Iran.

For nearly a year, a mix of troops and U.S. Defense Department contractors have been managing the day-to-day operation of the X-Band, which is situated at Nevatim air base in the Negev Desert.

Juniper Cobra will test a variety of air and missile defense technology during next month’s exercise, including the U.S.-controlled X-Band.

[xopatriot]

HOLY SH*T here it comes... they are positioning the pieces and getting ready to strike. Could this be any more transparent?

[Kilika]

Slowdown there, they've been doing these exercises for years, and they've had missle batteries there for about as long, at least since the last time Israel got hit with Scuds.

The "chesspieces" have been in place for some time now. Hardware sitting somewhere isn't an indicator so much as the movement of troops, and the equipment that supports troop movement. Exercises that involve several hundred personel happens all the time all over the world. These "exercises" serve two basic purposes it seems; practice and distraction.

[Optimus]

US 'bunker buster' bomb to be ready soon: Pentagon
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwIaLotSkaw29J0t9eD1EF7Ct8VQ
(AFP) – 13 hours ago


The 30,000-pound MOP is designed to knock out fortified sites
buried deep underground

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said a giant "bunker buster" bomb will be ready within months, adding a powerful weapon to the US arsenal amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

The 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) is designed to knock out fortified sites buried deep underground, like those used by Iran and North Korea to protect its nuclear work.

"It is under development right now and should be deployable in the coming months," press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

The Defense Department had said in August it wanted to speed up production plans for the super bomb, asking Congress to shift funds to the project.

Congress approved the request and the Pentagon announced Friday it awarded McDonnell Douglas Corporation a 51.9-million-dollar contract to enable B-2 aircraft to carry the enormous MOP.

The bomb, which holds 5,300 pounds of explosives, is designed "to defeat hardened facilities used by hostile states to protect weapons of mass destruction," Morrell said.

But he declined to comment whether the weapon's development was in response to Iran's disputed nuclear program.

"I don't think anybody can divine potential targets or anything of that nature. This is just a capability that we think is necessary given the world we live in these days," he said.

"The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion."

The United States has refused to rule out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails though President Barack Obama's administration has played down the possibility.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month that a military strike against Iran would only "buy time" and delay a nuclear weapons program by about one to three years.

The earth-penetrating MOP is often cited as a potential weapon to take out Iran's underground centrifuge facilities in Natanz.

Iran admitted last month it had been building a new uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom, sparking international outrage. In subsequent talks with world powers, Tehran has adopted a more conciliatory stance and agreed to UN inspections of the new plant.

In an earlier request to Congress, the Pentagon comptroller had cited an "urgent operational need" to develop a weapon against buried targets in "high threat environments," ABC television news reported.

The request for the MOP was backed by US Pacific Command, which oversees an area that includes North Korea, and Central Command, which covers the Middle East, including Iran, it said.

Aerospace giant Boeing manufactures the MOP, which could become the biggest conventional bomb ever used by the US military.

[Dig]

Blast from the past, but very relevant...

UN Inspector Scott Ritter: Fools would Bomb Iran

3 min - Jun 26, 2007 -  (581 ratings)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQan1qo8T4

------------------------------

Scott Ritter: Weapons of Mass Delusion

28 min - Sep 20, 2006 -  (180 ratings)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqoJHOSrjQo

__________________

Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern on the Occupation of Iraq.mpg

1 hr 43 min - Feb 10, 2007 -  (13 ratings)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8060230693312463524

---------------------------------

Target Iran - Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh

1 hr 23 min - Nov 8, 2006 -  (44 ratings)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3777614199046042311

-----------------------------------

MSNBC - Scott Ritter on Covert War in Iran CIA and the Mujahadeen-...

6 min - Aug 14, 2007 -  (2 ratings)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8425484120815762419

------------------------------------

Scott Ritter - Target Iran - Part 1

13 min - Apr 20, 2007 -  (155 ratings)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiZrWIVR69s


Scott Ritter on Iranian Nuclear Program

10 min - Jul 6, 2007 -  (277 ratings)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XctgkYj5aVk

-----------------------------------------------

Israel's influence of US policy & the Israeli lobby

3 min - Nov 8, 2006 -  (628 ratings)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O125hGt9qt4

Lot's of whistleblowing going on.  Wake up!

Iran plans are still on the table for Rockefeller/Cheney

----------------------------------------

Waging Peace

The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement

52 min - Dec 16, 2007 -  (3 ratings)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7167733082609114831

---------------------------------------

CNN's Hatchet Job on Scott Ritter
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0912-02.htm
Media smear ex-Marine for seeking answers on Iraq
Published on Thursday, September 12, 2002 in the Toronto Star by Antonia Zerbisias

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. -- Theodore Roosevelt

OF COURSE it was just coincidental that, on Sunday, as CNN was discrediting former United Nations weapons' inspector Scott Ritter, it was running promos for the remake of Four Feathers, A.E.W. Mason's tale of the coward who would not go to war.

By Monday, professional hairdo Paula Zahn told viewers Ritter had "drunk Saddam Hussein's Kool-Aid."

Ritter, who had that day urged Iraq's National Assembly to let in weapons inspectors or face annihilation, is no chicken hawk. After his 12-year turn as a U.S. Marine intelligence officer, he faced down Saddam Hussein's goons as chief inspector of the United Nations Special Commission to disarm Iraq (UNSCOM). In 1998, he quit in protest over differences between what Washington wanted and what Iraq allowed.

Ever since, he has been very vocal about what really led to UNSCOM's failure to complete its mission — a failure Ritter largely blames on Washington — and how weapons' inspectors must be allowed back in to avert what will certainly be a brutal, bloody war. He insists that, if the Bush administration has evidence showing that Saddam is building nukes, then the American people have a right to see it before they sacrifice their lives.

So, naturally, CNN talking head Miles O'Brien on Sunday questioned Ritter on his loyalty.

"As an American citizen, I have an obligation to speak out when I feel my government is acting in a manner, which is inconsistent with the — with the principles of our founding fathers," said Ritter. "It's the most patriotic thing I can do."

Not in this climate. Not when there's the ironically named U.S.A. Patriot Act which abrogates civil rights. Not when those who criticize the administration are considered to be "with the terrorists." Not when the U.S. media let President George Bush's advisers — who, with the exception of Secretary of State Colin Powell, have never served their country as Ritter has — gallop all over the airwaves.

You couldn't flip a channel on Sunday without catching one of the Bush bunch, including wife Laura, Powell, vice-president Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security adviser Condoleeza Rice, promoting an attack on Iraq as if they were actors flogging their latest project on Leno and Letterman.

Certainly, the line of questioning was no more tough. Nowhere was any of them asked seriously, if at all, about such trivia as the costs of a war, or what, if anything, is known about connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam, or what proof there is that Iraq has the ability to make and deliver nuclear weapons, or why that country as opposed to others, or what oil has to do with it, or how Cheney justifies his former business dealings with the regime he now so desperately wants to change ...

Still the demonization of Ritter continued.

First CNN had on its own news chief, Eason Jordan, who had just returned from Baghdad where he was bagging the rights to cover the war. (Imagine the ratings!) He dismissed Ritter with a "Well, Scott Ritter's chameleon-like behaviour has really bewildered a lot of people..." and a "Well, U.S. officials no longer give Scott Ritter much credibility..."

The network followed up with more interviews vilifying Ritter, neither of which cut to the heart of the matter: Why declare war? On what grounds? At what cost? Ritter was characterized as "misguided," "disloyal" and "an apologist for and a defender of Saddam Hussein."

By Monday, professional hairdo Paula Zahn told viewers Ritter had "drunk Saddam Hussein's Kool-Aid."

Over on MSNBC, Curtis & Kuby co-host Curtis Sliwa compared him to "a sock puppet" who "oughta turn in his passport for an Iraqi one." But the nadir came later on CNN when makeup job Kyra Phillips interrogated him, implying that he was being paid by Iraq —and all but calling him a quisling.

"Ha! Excuse me; I went to war against Saddam Hussein in 1991. I spent seven years of my life in this country hunting down weapons of mass destruction. I believe I've done a0 lot about Saddam Hussein," he replied. "You show me where Saddam Hussein can be substantiated as a threat against the United States and I'll go to war again. I'm not going to sit back idly and let anybody threaten the United States. But at this point in time, no one has made a case based upon facts that Saddam Hussein or his government is a threat to the United States worthy of war."

Maybe today, in his speech to the United Nations, Bush will make that case.

Maybe not.

Whatever happens, the list of cowards and traitors here won't include...

 Scott Ritter.

[Monkeypox]

If we or Israhell bomb Iran, then say hello to WWIII.

[Optimus]

Code Pink probably put their seal of approval on this.

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=39260.0

[Optimus]

U.S. and Israel to hold Juniper Cobra military exercises Oct. 12-16
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_57164.shtml
By Neil Ungerleider
True Slant
Friday, Oct 9, 2009

United States, Israel [to be] rehearsing for Iranian missile attack

Several US Navy ships just landed in Haifa to conduct a massive wargame with Israel. The Israeli and American militaries are conducting an exercise simulating a multi-front conflict with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. The exercise, codenamed ‘Juniper Cobra 2009,’ is the largest joint US-Israeli drill in history.

Juniper Cobra 2009 will reportedly include (on the American side) the Aegis missile defense system and THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense). On the Israeli side, it will include the Arrow 2 ballistic missile defense system and other undisclosed elements.

THAAD includes PAC-3 missiles, ship-based interceptors and Raytheon x-band radars. According to Istanbuli paper Today's Zaman,

    The radar, which was sent to Israel last October as a parting gift from US President George W. Bush, would let Israel’s operational Arrow missile defense systems engage long-range Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missiles about halfway through what would be its 11-minute flight to Israel from Iran, or six times sooner than Israel’s “Green Pine” radar is capable of doing. According to one expert, with the X-band system at work and connected to the US system, a missile intercept theoretically would take place over Iran or a neighboring state and not over Israel.

This radar system is located in Israel’s Negev Desert in the vicinity of the Nevatim Air Force Base. American personnel, based in Israel, under the supervision of EUCOM (United States European Command) man the radar system.

A similar x-band system is deployed in Hawaii to protect against a potential North Korean missile attack.

Falafel Mafia previously reported on a (seperate) large-scale Turkish/Israel/American naval exercise last month. Previous Juniper Cobra exercises took place in 2001 & 2007 involving American and Israeli missile cooperation.

In real world terms, it is important to note that this wargame is taking place at the exact same time that President Obama restructured America’s missile defense shield to protect against Iran rather than Russia. The Juniper Cobra exercise will focus extensively on missile defense. As Zaman noted, any missile interception might well take place over a neighboring state (likely Jordan or Saudi Arabia). For this reason and for others, it is likely that any imminent Israeli-Iranian war would bring other states into the mix. As proven by the recent behind-the-scenes diplomacy in the Middle East, there is quiet support among the leaders of many Middle Eastern states for an Israeli missile attack on Iran. This missile attack, presumably, would receive American support — as proven by this wargame exercise.

Meanwhile, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is urging Barack Obama to ‘be serious about denying them [Israel] that right’ when it comes to Israeli planes flying over Iraq to strike Iran.

News of the wargame was leaked to the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat by Israeli sources.

True Slant