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Largest Ever, Upcoming U.S.-Israel Joint Drill Sending Message to …

www.theblaze.com1/8/12

Arrow 3 Defense Missile Launch Test (Photo credit: Israeli Defense Ministry via Israel Hayom). A planned American-Israeli missile defense exercise is receiving special attention on the heels of a 10-day Iranian naval exercise …

Israel and US to hold joint missile drill | Aerospace & Defence News

aerospace.firetrench.com1/9/12

Israel and the United States are to hold a joint missile defence exercise, the Israeli military said late on Thursday. ASDNews … Last week it test-fired three missiles during war games east of the strait at the entrance to the Gulf. …

An upcoming American-Israeli missile defense exercise is receiving special media attention because it comes on the heels of a ten-day Iranian naval exercise, plus Iranian threats of closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli Defense Forces played down the timing of the announcement, calling such periodic exercises “routine:”

“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 defense systems. Like other bi-lateral exercises, Austere Challenge 12 represents another milestone in the strategic relationship between the US and Israel, as well as a step forward in promoting regional stability".

“The exercise scenario involves notional, simulated events as well as some field training, and is not in response to any real-world event".

“The exercise has been planned for at least two years and therefore has no relevance to any world events".

The AP quoted a senior military official who said on condition of anonymity:

"Thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units will take part, and the drill will test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets".

In a speech last month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta previewed the exercise, citing it as an example of what he called,

"The administration’s unprecedented levels of defense cooperation with Israel to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security".

And on Sunday’s Face the Nation, Panetta stated two red lines for the U.S.:

"Our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us. I think they need to know that, that if they take that step, that they’re going to get stopped. We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz. That’s another red line for us and that we will respond to them.".

See also, What Would Trigger A US Strike On Iran’s Nuclear Facilities?

And Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey on the same show said he believes,

" Iran has the capability, for a period of time to block the Strait of Hormuz, but we would take action and reopen the Straits".

Efraim Inbar, who is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, says that even if it’s not intended as a response to Iranian moves:

“Any military exercise has political implications. The military organ is always connected to political even if that’s not the intention on the part of the Americans or Israelis. It’s a clear political signal to the bad guys. After we saw the military exercise by the Iranians last week, everybody with political sensitivity tends to believe this is a counter-flexing of muscle".

Inbar also addressed expressions of isolationism in the U.S., something which has been gaining more media attention due to the presidential campaign of GOP candidate Ron Paul:

“This type of exercise expresses the importance of Israel to the U.S. particularly when the U.S. is seen as being weak in the region. It is leaving Iraq, it is on its way out of Afghanistan. Israel is probably the only place a U.S. military airplane will eventually be able to land in the Middle East".

“U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation is beneficial to both sides. The U.S. is a super power and we are a small state but in our area contrary to what isolationists say in the U.S., we all still need allies, or what used to be called ‘calling stations’. Israeli ports are open to the U.S. In fact, the only port where the U.S. can probably bring ships safely in the Eastern Mediterranean is to Israel. Looking at the other countries: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, the Mediterranean is becoming an Islamist lake".

And an Israeli Air Force officer emphasized that not only Israel gains from the relationship:

“The Americans are eager to conduct this exercise, we are their laboratory in the field of missile defense. A laboratory because Israel has extensive firsthand experience of absorbing incoming rockets and missiles from Hamas and Hezbollah and regularly activates its Iron Dome system to combat the threat".

The Telegraph reported from London that the UK will deploy its largest warship, the HMS Daring, to the Persian Gulf to,

“send a significant message to the Iranians”.

The UK destroyer is due to arrive in late January.

And Oil Supplies?

Western powers have agreed a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles which could replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz.

Rice: Iraq withdrawal threatens US gains – The Hill's Video

thehill.com11/6/11

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Sunday that President Obama's plan to pull all U. S..

Obama's Tragic Iraq Withdrawal – Council on Foreign Relations

www.cfr.org10/31/11

Max Boot says the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq is not a triumph but a defeat for the United States.

So Why did the US Lose In Iraq?

It must, in all fairness be said, that Barack Obama was critical of the Iraq war from its beginning.

But when he became president in January 2009, he was handed a war that had already been won!

The surge had succeeded!

The US Had It Won!

Al-Qaeda in Iraq had been routed, driven to a humiliating defeat by an Anbar Awakening of Sunnis fighting side-by-side with the infidel Americans!

And perhaps even more remarkably, the Shiite militias had been taken down, with U.S. backing, by the forces of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki!

The Sadr militias from Basra to Sadr City had been crushed!

So Obama Inherited A Very Simple Task

He simply needed to negotiate a new (SOFA) Status-of-forces agreement in order to reinforce the gains and to create a strategic partnership with the Arab world’s only democracy.

But he blew it, and negotiations, such as they were, finally collapsed in October 2011.

There is no longer an agreement, and no partnership, and as of Dec. 31, and the U.S. military presence in Iraq will to all intents and purposes be ended.

So How Did The Obama Administration Blow It?

The deadline didn’t suddenly sneak up on Obama because he had three years to prepare for it, and everyone involved, both Iraqi and American, knew that the 2008 SOFA which called for full U.S. withdrawal was meant to be renegotiated.

And all the major parties but one, the Sadr faction, had an interest in maintaining a residual stabilizing U.S. force, similar to the postwar deployments in Japan, Germany and Korea.

Joe Biden Was Handed The Negotiating Job

During the last three years, there were two abject and serious failures.

The First Major Failure Was Caused By

The administration’s inability, at the height of American post-surge power, to broker a centrist nationalist coalition governed by the major blocs.

Between

The predominantly Shiite (Maliki’s).

The predominantly Sunni (Ayad Allawi’s).

And the Kurds who won a large majority (69 percent) of the seats in the 2010 election.

Vice President Biden was given this relatively simple job, but even this was way beyond his limited capabilities.

(Why did Obama choose Biden as his vice president?).

The Iraqi government ended up effectively being run by a narrow sectarian coalition wherein the balance of power is held by a relatively small (12%) Iranian-client Sadr faction.

The Second Failure Was

Obama’s Status-Of-Forces Agreement!

U.S. commanders recommended approximately 20,000 troops, which would have been considerably fewer than our 28,500 in Korea, 40,000 in Japan and 54,000 in Germany but our president rejected those proposals, and chose instead a level of 3,000 to 5,000 troops.

The President’s Decision Was Therefore Doomed To Failure!

Because a deployment so incredibly small will effectively have to expend ALL its energies simply protecting itself.

The Lebanese Deployment

Similar to our tragic and somewhat aimless 1982 Lebanon deployment, we’ll now be left with.

No capability to train the Iraqis.

No capability to build their U.S. equipped air force.

And no capability to mediate ethnic disputes.

Did Obama Really Want A Successful Outcome?

Almost certainly, "No", he didn’t!

Because Obama’s proposal was an unmistakable signal of unseriousness, and it quickly became clear that he just wanted out.

Some Proof Of What I’m Writing?

Massoud Barzani, who has been the leader of the Kurds for two decades and was the staunchest of U.S. allies, just visited Tehran to bend a knee to both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Obama’s Lame Excuse

Our friends should not have been left out in the cold to seek Iranian protection.

Three years and a won war gave Obama the opportunity to establish a lasting strategic alliance with the Arab world’s second most important power.

Obama’s excuse is the Iraqi refusal to grant legal immunity to U.S. forces, but the Bush administration encountered the same problem and overcame it.

Obama obviously had little desire to so however, and is now attempting to portray the withdrawal as a success.

So Why Didn’t Obama Want To Win?

Obama opposed the war which is understandable.

But when he became commander in chief, the terrible price had already been paid in blood and treasure, so surely his obligation was to make something of that sacrifice, to secure the strategic gains that sacrifice had already achieved?!

The Bottom Line

Years from now, we will most likely still be asking, not,

"How did the US lose the war in Iraq?".

But, "Why did the Obama Administration do it?".