By Rick Rozoff
November 18, 2011
Rumours and reports of, speculation
over and scenarios for
attacks against Iran’s civilian nuclear power
facilities and military sites by the United States, Israel or both have flared
up periodically over the past several years, especially since early 2005.
However,
recent statements by among others the President and Defense Minister of Israel
and a leading candidate for the American Presidency in next year’s election ~
Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Mitt Romney respectively ~ before and after the
latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran’s nuclear
program manifest a more stark and menacing tone that has been heard in a long
time. Standing U.S. head of state Barack Obama recently stated, “We are not
taking any options off the table.”
The
above threats and others of the same tenor have been noted in the capitals of
countries around the world.
Last
week the Global Times, a publication of the Communist Party of China, featured
an unsigned editorial entitled “Winds of war start blowing toward Iran,” which
contained these excerpts:
“The financial crisis is showing cracks in the Western lifestyle, making people anxious and irritable. History teaches us that war can quickly raise its ugly head at such times. There are always those who think wars can be a catalyst to move past a crisis.”“While the US and other Western countries are struggling economically, their military power reigns supreme. This contrast is inevitably tempting in their strategic thinking but would have a profoundly negative impact on world peace.”“Military rhetoric is usually heard from Western mouths. Where will the next war happen? War first exists in the minds of those obsessed with military might. If war is treated as a tool to solve problems, new excuses for it can easily be found.”“The last few days have seen tensions over Iran take a sharp turn for the worse. Some feel that the US and Israel should combine to strike at Iranian nuclear facilities. This is reminiscent of those who encouraged NATO to hit Syria a few weeks ago.” [1]
On
November 14 former Cuban president Fidel Castro warned that “a U.S.-Israeli
attack on Iran would inevitably unleash a bloody war,” adding that because of
the country’s size and comparative military strength “an attack on Iran is not
like the previous Israeli military adventures in Iraq and Syria.”
In
fact, with a population as high as 75-77 million, Iran is larger in that regard
than the last four nations attacked by the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty
Organization allies combined: Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Four
days earlier Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian Duma Committee for
International Affairs, in casting grave doubts on the accuracy and purpose of
the recent IAEA report on Iran, said:
“A military operation against Iran could have grave consequences. And Russia should make every effort to control emotions, bring negotiations back into the field of political and expert discussion, and not allow any such action against Iran.” [2]
The
following day it was announced that Iran was pursuing full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose members are Russia, China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Iran’s fellow observers in the group are
India, Pakistan and Mongolia), with the Supreme National Security Council’s
Secretary Assistant Ali Bageri stating,
“We have already submitted a relevant application.” [3]
Slightly
over two years ago the U.S, and Israel held the world’s largest-ever live-fire
anti-ballistic missile drills in the second country, Juniper Cobra 10. [4]
Over
a thousand U.S. and an equal amount of Israeli troops participated in the war
games which included three of the four tiers of rapidly the evolving American
global interceptor missile network: The Patriot Advanced Capability-3, Standard
Missile-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems.
Early
next year Juniper Cobra 12 will be held in Israel with the involvement of over
5,000 U.S. and Israeli troops, the largest joint military exercise ever
conducted by the two nations.
Last
summer the Jerusalem Post ran a feature with the title “Israel, US to hold
massive missile defense drill next year,” which stated:
“Called Juniper Cobra, the exercise will be held in early 2012 and will include the Arrow 2 and Iron Dome as well as America’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The exercise will likely include the actual launching of interceptors from these systems.”
The
Israeli daily added:
“The purpose of the exercise is to create the necessary infrastructure that would enable interoperability between Israeli and American missile defense systems in case the US government decided to deploy these systems here in the event of a conflict with Iran, like it did ahead of the Gulf War in Iraq in 1991.” [5]
Another
major Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, ran a story last week under the title “Israel, U.S. to embark on largest joint exercise in
allies’ history,”
which cited Andrew Shapiro, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military
Affairs, stating that the upcoming missile drills will represent the “largest”
and “most significant” joint military maneuvers ever held by the U.S. and
Israel.
The
account added:
“‘Our security relationship with Israel is broader, deeper and more intense than ever before,’ said Shapiro, adding that Israel’s military edge was a ‘top priority’ for himself, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama.” [6]
The
intensification of already unprecedented missile interception coordination
between two of the world’s main military powers indicates preparation for
withstanding potential Iranian retaliation following Israeli, American or joint
strikes against Iran.
The
deployment of a U.S. Forward-Based X-Band Radar in Israel’s Negev Desert three
years ago and this past summer’s first deployment of an Aegis class guided
missile warship, USS Monterrey, to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the
U.S.-NATO Phased Adaptive Approach interceptor missile system endorsed at
NATO’s summit in Portugal a year ago, which will further entail the stationing
of missiles and radar in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey and other, as yet
undisclosed, countries, are further signs of systematic plans for guaranteeing
that the U.S. NATO allies and partners (like Israel) are invulnerable to
counterattacks. [7]
The
withdrawal of American and allied troops from Iraq and the beginning of a
drawdown of their counterparts in Afghanistan can also be seen in this context,
as removing targets for possible retaliation should a large-scale attack be
staged against Iran.
In
the last three weeks features have appeared in two of America’s major
newspapers, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which reveal
another source for prospective attacks against Iran: The six members of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). All are close military allies of and recipients
of weapons from the U.S. and are linked with NATO through the eponymous
Istanbul Cooperation Initiative launched at the 2004 NATO summit in Turkey. [8]
A
recent headline in Britain’s Guardian alluded to a “mini-NATO” in the Persian
Gulf and Voice of Russia featured an article with the title of “US envisions NATO of the Gulf.”
A
New York Times report of October 29 mentioned that Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta recently confirmed the Pentagon currently has 40,000 troops in the
Persian Gulf region (excluding Iraq), including 23,000 in Kuwait. The daily
stated that new U.S. plans could include the deployment of more combat troops
to the latter state and a heightened presence of American warships in the area.
The
account further detailed that the Obama administration :
“is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council ~ Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new ‘security architecture’ for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.” [9]
On
November 11 the Wall Street Journal revealed that the White House will provide
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with “thousands of advanced ‘bunker-buster’
bombs and other munitions, part of a stepped-up U.S. effort to build a regional
coalition to counter Iran.” The weapons will “vastly expand the existing
capabilities of the country’s air force to target fixed structures, which could
include bunkers and tunnels ~ the kind of installations where Iran is believed
to be developing weapons.” [10]
Another
source mentioned 500 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles in addition to the other
munitions. A news story four days later disclosed that the U.S. Air Force has
received “super-heavy bunker buster bombs” from Boeing to be carried by B-2
bombers. The new bunker-busters weigh “13.6 tons and [have] a built-in
satellite navigation system, with “experts not[ing] that this type of bomb
which is capable of breaking 18-meter-thick concrete walls is a perfect weapon
for attacking nuclear facilities in Iran.” [11]
The
Wall Street Journal report, echoing that of the New York Times earlier, added:
“The Obama administration is trying to build up the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, U.A.E. and Kuwait, as a unified counterweight to Iran.“In recent months, the U.S. has begun holding a regular strategic dialogue with the GCC bloc. And the Pentagon has been trying to improve intelligence-sharing and military compatibility among the six countries.”
The
newspaper reminded its readers of a $67 billion arms deal initiated by the
White House with Saudi Arabia in 2010 to supply the second nation with 84 F-15
fighter jets and 2,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, 72 Black Hawk and 70 Apache
Longbow attack helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-2 and other missiles,
and warships. The largest bilateral weapons sale in history.
Two
years ago a Financial Times feature estimated that Washington plans to sell
$123 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab
Emirates.
The
Wall Street Journal also reported that the U.S. Defense Department plans to
supply Stinger missiles and medium-range air-to-air missiles to Oman.
Citing
Pentagon officials, the paper added:
“The U.A.E. has a large fleet of advanced U.S.-made F-16 fighters that could carry the bunker-busters.The U.A.E. currently has several hundred JDAMs [joint direct attack munitions/bunker-busters] in its arsenal, and the 4,900 in the new proposal would represent a massive buildup [of] direct attack munitions.”
“Proponents of the deal point to the
U.A.E.’s support for U.S. efforts to isolate Iran, and its critical backing to
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization air campaign in Libya. Officials said
providing JDAMs and other U.S. weapons systems to the U.A.E. will make it
easier for the country to participate in similar missions in the future.” [12]
The
role of the UAE and its GCC partners this year in NATO’s war against Libya and
in interventions in Bahrain and Yemen and against Syria will be addressed
later. [13]
A
Russian expert, Professor Sergei Druzhilovsky at the Moscow State Institute of
International Relations, characterized the intensification of American arms
sales to its Gulf clients in the following words:
“Clearly, the aim is to provoke Iran to respond by some inadequate moves, which would enable the Americans to justify subsequent violence and military force. Because no further arming of U.S. allies in the Arab Middle East will make them any stronger. It’s not the strength of its allies, which simply doesn’t exist, but its own military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain and its own fleet in the Persian Gulf that Washington relies upon. So, this is a pure provocation.” [14]
The
Wall Street journal article also discussed the integration of the six GCC
states into U.S. plans for an international interceptor missile system:
“The U.S. has also sought to build up missile-defense systems across the region, with the goal of building an integrated network to defend against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Iran.” [15]
Last
year Washington announced the sale of land-based interceptor missiles to
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, mainly of the Patriot
Advanced Capability-3 model.
With
land- and ship-based interceptor missiles in the Persian Gulf, Washington will
link the NATO system in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean with that
being developed in the Asia-Pacific region with partners Australia, Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan and, with what of late has been an initiative of U.S.
permanent representative to NATO Ivo Daalder, India joining the NATO missile
interception system [16] to increasingly surround Iran, Russia and China.
On
November 13 Aviation International News reported that Washington is planning to
provide Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries to the United
Arab Emirates, adding to nine Patriot Advanced Capability-3 units on order. The
Pentagon has deployed two THAAD active batteries to date, both in the U.S., so
the stationing of the interceptors (96-144 missiles) in the UAE would be the
first time they have been deployed overseas.
The
news site supplied these details:
“[T]he UAE was the first export customer to be cleared to receive the system. THAAD has completed 12 successful flight tests, nine of which involved target engagements. The latest test, FTT-12, was undertaken on October 5 at the Pacific Missile Test Range at Barking Sands, Hawaii. Two interceptors were launched successfully against two targets in a near-simultaneous engagement.”
“[T]here
is significant interest in upgraded Patriot and THAAD systems [in the region].
Kuwait and Qatar have both reported interest in the latter.
“As well as anticipating finalization of
the THAAD contract, Lockheed Martin is awaiting the outcome of another UAE
decision concerning an air defense battle management system.” [17]
According
to Press TV earlier this month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned
that the NATO missile system, particularly the deployment of an X-Band radar
unit in Turkey, “jeopardizes the interests of the country and the entire
region.”
This
year has seen the emergence of Persian Gulf monarchies grouped in the Gulf
Cooperation Council as a military adjunct to NATO, as a combat-ready and
-proven force ready to collaborate with their Western arms suppliers and allies
to intervene and wage war in the Middle East and North Africa.
The
United Arab Emirates provided six U.S. F-16 and six French Mirage warplanes for
NATO’s Operation Unified Protector and its 26,000 air missions and nearly
10,000 combat flights over Libya. Qatar supplied six Mirage fighter jets and
two C-17 military transport planes. News reports at the time remarked that the
above represented the first time Gulf Cooperation Council states had joined a
NATO combat mission. (Although the UAE has a contingent of troops serving under
NATO in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.)
In
June Robert Gates, while still U.S. defense secretary, praised the role of the
UAE, Jordan ad Morocco in the war against Libya – Jordan and Morocco have since
applied for membership in the GCC – stating, “In Libya, the involvement of
Jordan, Morocco, the UAE and others in the Middle East have been hugely important.”
The
then-Pentagon chief added this significant comment:
“I am not sure we would have moved forward to the UN, even undertaking this enterprise, had it not been for the vote in the Arab League that then paved the way for the UN Security Council resolutions.” [18]
Gates
paralleled repeated statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the
war citing the Arab League initiative against Libya on February 22 when the
organization, then dominated by the GCC as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were in
turmoil and Syria soon to join them, condemned and suspended the membership of
the North African country, a move recently repeated in relation to Syria.
The
GCC’s participation in NATO’s naval blockade and air war against Libya was
accompanied by its first armed intervention in a member state, the deployment
of 1,500 Saudi and Emirati troops to Bahrain in the middle of March in an
operation called Peninsula Shield. [19]
After
Libya, Bahrain and Afghanistan, GCC members, severally and collectively, have
been prepared for a military conflict closer to home, in the Persian Gulf.
In
May Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced after meeting with
his UAE counterpart that the Gulf state will “become the first Arab country to
open an embassy at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,” according to Agence
France-Presse.
The
following day the Kuwait News Agency quoted a statement from the French Foreign
Ministry supporting the initiative:
“The United Arab Emirates has just asked for the accreditation of an ambassador to NATO.“We fully support this request.“This is a new step in our relations, which have witnessed an intensity and quality in cooperation between the UAE and the Alliance, notably in the framework of Operation Unified Protector in Libya.”
The
Iranian response was, according to Press TV, that
“This move by the UAE sets the stage to officially authorize the presence of an uninvited guest in the region.”
The
preceding month five NATO warships visited the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait “under
the 2004 Istanbul Cooperation Initiative” as an Agence France-Presse dispatch
phrased it.
In
commenting on the earlier-cited New York Times article on the Persian Gulf, a
Voice of Russia commentary stated:
“[W]ith Qatar and the United Arab Emirates participating in the latest NATO-led campaign against Libya, this new ‘security architecture’ will mostly likely expand to carry out a similar function throughout the Middle East.“[A]s the United States moves towards integrating the six states of the Gulf Co-operation Council into a security alliance that would increase both US and Saudi domination in the region, Iran could very well find itself the next victim of a US-led ‘humanitarian intervention.’” [20]
In
addition to the escalation of U.S. military presence in the region, in 2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened a military complex ~ with a navy base,
air base, and training camp ~ in the United Arab Emirates, his country’s first
permanent base in the Persian Gulf.
In
doing so Paris joined the U.S., Britain, Canada, the Netherlands. Australia and
New Zealand in maintaining a military presence in the country. (Canada has
since abandoned Camp Mirage in the UAE.)
The
UAE has recently reopened negotiations with France for a military surveillance
satellite, which
“could also be linked to the protracted negotiations to buy 60 Dassault Aviation Rafale multi-role fighter jets, a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion.”
According
to a United Press International story of late last month,
“On April 24, the emirates launched its fifth communications satellite into orbit, the first to provide secure and independent telecommunications for its armed forces amid a drive by Arab states in the gulf to boost their military capabilities against Iran.“The Emirates’ Y1A satellite was launched from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 rocket.”
Another
report by the same agency a month before said that
“Dassault Aviation hopes to capitalize on France’s participation with the United Arab Emirates in the air campaign against Moammar Gadhafi’s crumbling regime in Libya to promote the sale of 60 Rafale multi-role jets to the Persian Gulf state.”
The
story mentioned that
“The emirates’ military says it wants missiles capable of reaching targets deep inside Iran,”
and
offered this description of current UAE air capabilities:
“The United Arab Emirates has built up what is widely viewed as the most formidable air force in the Persian Gulf. It has 184 combat aircraft, including 155 ground-attack fighters, mainly 55 Lockheed F-16E Block 60 Desert Eagles, 25 F-16F Block 60 Eagles and 18 French Dassault Mirage 2000-9DADs and 44 Mirage 2000-9RADs.”
The
arming of the GCC by the U.S., France and other NATO powers at an exponential
rate is, in addition to providing an economic boon to crisis-ridden Western
countries, transparently and exclusively directed against Iran.
The
advantages accruing to the U.S. and Israel in having a regional grouping of its
neighbors attack Iran in lieu of doing so themselves are sufficiently evident
not to warrant being belabored.
Washington
is using the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies to act as surrogates for its own
interests against Iran as it is with Georgia against Russia [21]
and the Philippines vis-a-vis China. (NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen and the North Atlantic Council just returned from Georgia, the second
such visit a NATO chief and the bloc’s 28 ambassadors have paid, the first
occurring the month after Georgia invaded South Ossetia in August 2008,
provoking a five-day war with Russia.
Late last month 2,000 U.S. and 1,000 Filipino
marines participated in combat drills near the Spratly Islands, which are
contested by the Philippines and China.
Even
if the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and their GCC partners don’t launch
unprovoked strikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, a provocation
staged, say, by the UAE around the oil-rich island of Abu Musa in the Persian
Gulf (frequently referred to by U.S. officials as the Arabian Gulf in a direct
affront and challenge to Iran), administered by Iran but claimed by the UAE,
will be casus belli enough for the GCC and through it the Arab League it
controls.
From
there, as with Libya earlier this year, the U.S. and its NATO allies will take up
cudgels on behalf of the “threatened” Arab Gulf states and enter the lists
against Iran.
The
Obama Doctrine [22], like the Nixon Doctrine of forty years earlier,
emphasizes the role of proxies (identified as allies and victims) in doing what
the U.S. chooses not to do, not to do alone or to be seen doing alone.
It
justifies military aggression in the name of decisions reached by organizations
it doesn’t belong to, like the Arab League and the African Union in regards to
Libya, and settles geopolitical scores with independent-minded rivals under the
guise of intervening on behalf of aggrieved and injured third parties. A lesson
that Russia has already learned, China is now learning and Iran may be taught
next.
NOTES
1)
Winds of war start blowing toward Iran, Global Times, November 9, 2011
2)
‘Russia can prevent military operation against Iran’, RT, November 10, 2011
3)
Tehran applies for full membership in SCO, Trend News Agency, November 11, 2011
4) Israel: Forging NATO Missile Shield, Rehearsing War With Iran, Stop NATO, November 5, 2009
5)
Israel, US to hold massive missile defense drill next year, Jerusalem Post,
July 26, 2011
6)
Israel, U.S. to embark on largest joint exercise in allies’ history, Ha’aretz,
November 11, 2011
7) Israel: Global NATO’s 29th Member, Stop NATO January 17, 2010
8)
NATO In Persian Gulf: From Third World War To Istanbul, Stop NATO, February 6,
2009
9)
U.S. Planning Troop Buildup in Gulf After Exit From Iraq, New York Times,
October 29, 2011
10)
U.S. Plans Bomb Sales in Gulf to Counter Iran, Wall Street Journal, November
11, 2011
11)
US Air Forces get super-heavy bunker buster bombs, Itar-Tass, November 15, 2011
12)
U.S. Plans Bomb Sales in Gulf to Counter Iran, Wall Street Journal, November
11, 2011
13)
Gulf State Gendarmes: West Backs Holy Alliance For Control Of Arab World And
Persian Gulf, Stop NATO, May 25, 2011
14)
Profitable provocation, Voice of Russia, November 11, 2011
15)
U.S. Plans Bomb Sales in Gulf to Counter Iran, Wall Street Journal, November
11, 2011
16)
NATO and India to build joint missile defense system? Voice of Russia,
September 2, 2011
NATO
in India overtures, Voice of Russia, September 2, 2011
India
may agree to deploy NATO missile system, Pakistan Observer, September 6, 2011
17)
THAAD on Target for UAE, Aviation International News, November 13, 2011
18)
World Tribune, June 12, 2011
19) Bahrain: U.S. Backs Saudi Military Intervention, Conflict With Iran, Stop NATO, March 16, 2011
20)
US envisions NATO of the Gulf, Voice of Russia, October 31, 2011
21)
Washington To Rearm Georgia For New Conflicts, Stop NATO, January 14, 2011
22)
Obama Doctrine: Eternal War For Imperfect Mankind, Stop NATO, December 10, 2009
Great post Noor, it is important - get the word out. The last of the puzzle pieces are in place. the big three could still end all of this madness, pray that we do.
ReplyDeleteTraditional Catholic Prayers: Pray for an alliance between Russia and the United States
Follow the links through and see the reasonableness of the Russian President.
We really DO NOT NEED THIS, now do we?!
ReplyDeleteTech_Journal: Hypersonic weapon: New US bomb kills long before you hear it — RT Tech_Journal: Hypersonic weapon: New US bomb kills long before you hear it — RT
It is very clear to me what has happened over the last century. The Russians never decided that, "hey lets get our ruler - Czar Nicholas II assassinated by the very Jews he protected and institute a bloodletting against us by these abominable creatures that will be unimaginable. Then to have even more horror, lets prop up the fake state of Israel in the Middle East when British-American machinations create that there in order to colonize the entire region. ..." etc ad nauseum. Of course not, the WHOLE PLAN WAS FUNDED FROM AND MANAGED FROM THE NEW YORK JEWRY. PERIOD. ONE CENTURY OF HORROR BY THIS EXACT GROUP OF LITTLE BASTARDS.
ReplyDeleteTHE WHOLE WORLD IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED IF THEY ARE NOT STOPPED.
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POSTED BY MIKO AT 2:08 PM
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