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Some more on Austere Challenge 12, from RT…
Thousands of US troops deploying to Israel
Without much media attention, thousands of American troops are being deployed to Israel, and Iranian officials believe that this is the latest and most blatant warning that the US will soon be attacking Tehran…
…Under the Austere Challenge 12 drill scheduled for an undisclosed time during the next few weeks, the Israeli military will together with America host the largest-ever joint missile drill by the two countries. Following the installation of American troops near Iran’s neighboring Strait of Hormuz and the reinforcing of nearby nations with US weapons, Tehran authorities are considering this not a test but the start of something much bigger.
In the testing, America’s Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system will be operating alongside its ship-based Aegis system and Israel’s own program to work with Arrow, Patriot and Iron Drone missiles…
…The Jerusalem Post quotes US Commander Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc as saying the drill is not just an “exercise” but also a “deployment” that will involve “several thousand American soldiers” heading to Israel. Additionally, new command posts will be established by American forces in Israel and that country’s own IDF army will begin working from a base in Germany…
…With America previously equipping Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weaponry to wreck any chance of an Iranian nuclear weapon program from close by, the US will now have added forces on the ready in Israel and Germany under what Tehran fears is a guise being merely perpetrated as a test-run. RT reported last week that the US is equipping Saudi Arabia with nearly $30 billion F-15 war planes, a deal that comes shortly after Washington worked out a contract with Dubai to give the UAE advanced “bunker buster” bombs that could decimate underground nuclear operations in neighboring Iran…
Yahoo reported the DoD’s response…
…Although the exercise, codenamed “Austere Challenge 12″ comes at a time of spiralling regional tensions over Iran’s suspected nuclear arms programme, the army said the manoeuvres were planned in advance.
“The exercise scenario involves notional, simulated events as well as some field training and is not in response to any real-world event,” the military said in a written response to an AFP query
“The US European Command and the Israel Defence Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel. These exercises, which are part of a long-standing strategic partnership, are planned in advance and part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of our defence systems.“
It did not say when the exercise would take place.
Routine, my arse…! However, I will give them credit for it being in the ‘bomb, bomb, Iran’ pipeline for quite sometime…! See: May, Cliff…
Btw, where do the Brass Brainiacs in the Pentagon come up with these names anyways…?
Any hoots, here’s some sober viewpoints…
First, Andrew Bacevich hearkens back to the days of yore, when the last General helmed the Ship of State…
The Tyranny of Defense Inc.
…“Every gun that is made,” Eisenhower told his listeners, “every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Any nation that pours its treasure into the purchase of armaments is spending more than mere money. “It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.” To emphasize the point, Eisenhower offered specifics:
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities … We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people…
Damn Commie…!
Simon Jenkins asked the burning question…
Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran?
Sabre-rattling at Washington’s behest is an idiocy, and likely to do little other than escalate the steps to open conflict…
Finally, Philip Giraldi, in his vivisection of Steve Clemons, completely eviscerates Oily Bomber’s FP in the process…
We Are All Humanitarian Interventionists
…That people who call themselves progressives see America’s overseas role as a wonderful success is quite frightening, particularly as one has to suspect that it is also the type of thinking that drives the White House. Those who support an aggressive policy to give the world stability, prosperity, and liberalism should pause and consider what they are advocating. The assumption that the United States is a force for good and must promote its values worldwide is fallacious. It will inevitably lead to bankruptcy, civil disorder, and a loss of fundamental liberties at home as well as creating resentment and devastation overseas.
It will certainly be an ‘Austere’ challenge in 2012…!
*gah*
10 Comments
Recommended. I’m going to post the RT segment at PA. Thanks. Israel is not an ally. They are, rather, a very ungrateful regional pain in the butt.
Btw, having worked in a Patriot Missile Bn, I know they’re much more effective in striking targets on the ground than in the air…! Iron Dome is a joke too, one in six launches might just hit the aerial target…! Check out the ‘vaunted’ record of the Scud Busters(Patriot) that were made famous during Desert Storm…! Missile shields be it, Stars Wars, THAADS, Patriot, Iron Dome, Aegis, are expensive hunks of junk…! C’mon folks, wake up…! 8-(
I’m not sure the point is for the defenses to work effectively at stopping the “airspace intrusion”. We are just meat to be in the way of whatever falls out of the sky and explodes, so we can blame it on “x”. This absolutely terrifies me in ways I have tried to repress since Fukushima… Er, well I’m still kinda worried about that too.
Have you seen any of the reports about US troops positioned out in the Jordan desert outside of Syria?
I do know that Obama did sign some ‘Presidential findings’ authorizing the step-up in covert action in Syria and Iran…! 8-(
“So, this is some drone-related news about the Afghan war that we missed. While most media attention has been focused on CIA drone bases in Pakistan, the U.S. last year transformed the remote ex-Soviet air field at Shindand, near the Iranian border, into the second biggest air base in all Afghanistan….In any case, as long as tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain high, you can bet that Shindand will remain important.”
http://defensetech.org/2012/01/03/our-new-megabase-in-afghanistan/
“Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran?
Sabre-rattling at Washington’s behest is an idiocy, and likely to do little other than escalate the steps to open conflict…”
That’s ass backwards. It’s a damn special relationship alright. Downright unusual. The Empire plays the “poodle,” but the U.S. is the real “poodle” to our betters, the Oligarchical Elite ensconced in the City of London, Inc.
Here’s how Empire eats a Republic from the inside out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apG63HRITpM&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLFB7896F27805365D
Like many others, the US is just saber-rattling at this point, mainly because an attack of Iran would reduce Obama’s reelection chances, mainly through its effect on the economy. And it is still, “it’s the economy stupid,” that reigns over the next year. Even now, upsurges in the price of oil associated with Iranian sanctions is scary. Cheap gas has become an American birthright, and lower prices undoubtedly favor Obama.
Thanks for this diary, Tut.
Silver lining time.
The best-least-disastrous outcome of bombing Iran is that Israel might ceases to exist in the medium term. Not bc of the instant influence of the missiles Iran would launch against Israel, but bc many Israelis have options to live in other countries and would emigrate should that occur. Can’t remember where I heard/read this. Might have been Flynt Leverett interviewed by Scott Horton on antiwar.com.
October surprise. Too late to experience the influence of higher oil prices, and plenty soon enough to gin up more U.S. voter support.
Thanks for this post, CTuttle. I guess this might explain the surge in USA manufacturing numbers for the year end. I couldn’t figure that one out. It’s orders for War Toys.