LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 21/2012


Bible Quotation for today
/False Teachers
02 Peter 02/01-22: "False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth. In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!  God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell, where they are kept chained in darkness, waiting for the Day of Judgment. God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people. God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying them with fire, and made them an example of what will happen to the godless. He rescued Lot, a good man, who was distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people. That good man lived among them, and day after day he suffered agony as he saw and heard their evil actions. And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God's authority.  These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them. Even the angels, who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord. But these people act by instinct, like wild animals born to be captured and killed; they attack with insults anything they do not understand. They will be destroyed like wild animals, and they will be paid with suffering for the suffering they have caused. Pleasure for them is to do anything in broad daylight that will satisfy their bodily appetites; they are a shame and a disgrace as they join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways! They want to look for nothing but the chance to commit adultery; their appetite for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into a trap. Their hearts are trained to be greedy. They are under God's curse! They have left the straight path and have lost their way; they have followed the path taken by Balaam son of Beor, who loved the money he would get for doing wrong and was rebuked for his sin. His donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's insane action. These people are like dried-up springs, like clouds blown along by a storm; God has reserved a place for them in the deepest darkness. They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for we are slaves of anything that has conquered us. If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them. What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: A dog goes back to what it has vomited and A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.

 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Iran already started a war, a cold one between Israel, U.S./By Sefi Rachlevsky/Haaretz/March 20/12
Toulouse shootings shows hatred has more than one source/By Jean-Yves Camus/Haaretz/March 20/12
Obama's Risky Ploy - Iran/By: Leslie J. Sacks/March 20/12
The battle of history/By: Hazem Saghiyeh/March 20/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 20/12
Barak Warns about Hizbullah’s Nonstop Plans to Target Jews 
Hizbullah Suspect to Appear in Thai Court on Weapons Charge
Maronite MPs Bkirki meeting postponed, station reports
Merhebi: Lebanese cabinet an ‘accomplice’ to crimes against Syrians
Cohen Arrives in Beirut for Talks with Top Officials 
U.S. Treasury official meets Mikati
Geagea Says Aoun Attacking LF to Shift Attention from His Ministers 'Catastrophic Failure'
“Tawfiq Taha is Al-Qaeda’s number one in Lebanon,” a security source told The Daily Star.
Ain al-Hilweh calm following anti-Lebanese Army protests
Jumblat: Syrian Crisis Can Only Be Solved through Overthrowing its Regime

Sleiman says Lebanon model of dialogue between cultures
Phalange: We Condemn Attempts to Harm the Army as it Represents Lebanon’s Unity
Another Tabarja building collapses, no injuries
Obama Condemns 'Electronic Curtain' in Iran
Peres to Iran: Return to your Persian heritage of culture, not missiles
Khamenei: Iran can withstand global diplomatic, economic pressure
."Cruel" gunman filmed French school carnage: minister
Gunman may have filmed killings at French school; hunt for killer intensifies
French police suspect neo-Nazi link to attack on Toulouse Jewish school
EU's Ashton: I did not parallel Toulouse attack to Gaza deaths
Lieberman: Ashton's comparison of Toulouse attack to Gaza deaths 'inappropriate'
Lavrov: Lebanon, Russia on same page regarding Iran, peace process
Lavrov Meets Mansour: Russia to Support Ultimatum-Free U.N. Statement on Syria
Russia calls on Syria, rebels to hold daily truces

Clashes hit Syrian capital; West wants united front
Syria rebels quit eastern city, army on offensive
Attacks in 8 Iraq cities kill 46 ahead of summit


Hizbullah Suspect to Appear in Thai Court on Weapons Charge

by Naharnet /A Lebanese man with alleged links to Hizbullah arrested in Thailand will appear in court Wednesday on charges of breaking weapons control laws, a senior prosecutor said.
Atris Hussein, who is also believed to have a Swedish passport, was arrested in Bangkok in January and police later found a large amount of chemicals that could be used to make a bomb at an address he rented. "Prosecutors agreed to charge him with breaking weapons control laws," Pongniwat Yuthaponboripan, director general of the department of criminal litigation, told Agence France Presse Tuesday.
Ammonium nitrate is commonly used in agriculture, but mixed with other substances can make a bomb. Possession of the chemical requires a permit in Thailand. Pongniwat said police investigators had concluded one charge against him and, depending on the evidence, he could later also be charged with terrorism. The court will hear his plea on Wednesday. Prior to Hussein's arrest, the United States had warned of a "serious" threat of a terrorist attack on tourist areas in Bangkok. The country has been further shaken by a string of botched blasts in the capital on February 14 in an alleged plot to kill Israeli diplomats. Thai police are holding two Iranians, one of whom was badly hurt as he hurled a bomb at police while fleeing. Another suspect was detained in Malaysia, while arrest warrants have been issued for two more Iranians believed to have left the country. Israel has blamed Iran over the Bangkok blasts, as well as attacks on Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia a day earlier.Thai police have said they believe that Israeli diplomats were the intended target of the botched plot but have yet to produce hard evidence. SourceAgence France Presse

Barak Warns about Hizbullah’s Nonstop Plans to Target Jews
by Naharnet /Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said that Hizbullah plans to continue attacks on Jewish targets abroad, the Israeli Jerusalem Post daily reported.
“Although recent attempted attacks have failed, Hizbullah is likely to continue the attempts,” the newspaper quoted him as saying on Monday.
Israeli deterrence is still strong in Lebanon, Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, but stressed that Hizbullah is continuing to obtain many rockets of different kinds. Barak held the Lebanese government responsible for any escalation with Hizbullah in light of the fact that the party is a significant player in Lebanese politics, the daily added.
Barak also said Iran will soon enter the “immunity zone,” making an attack difficult, pointing out that Iran funds, and in some cases initiates, terror attacks around the world, according to the paper.
While sanctions are important and harm the Iranian economy, they have yet to convince Tehran to change its nuclear program, he added. “If Iran gains military nuclear capabilities, a conflict with them will be longer, more complicated and cost more in human life and resources,” Barak stated.

Merhebi: Lebanese cabinet an ‘accomplice’ to crimes against Syrians
March 20, 2012 /Future bloc MP Mouin al-Merhebi told LBC television on Tuesday that the Lebanese cabinet was “an accomplice to the murders and crimes” committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against his people.Merhebi also addressed the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and said there were a lot of difficulties related to admitting those who are injured to hospitals.
“Refugees were [left] in unequipped places [to be treated] because they were not able to be admitted to hospitals due to [financial reasons].”Merhebi added that the Finance Ministry has not transferred any money to the Higher Relief Council in more than three months.He also said that it was not the first time that the Lebanese cabinet “orders the HRC to stop covering the financial hospital expenses [of Syrian refugees],” adding that he was following up on the issue with the Finance Ministry and the relevant figures.Syria has witnessed anti-regime protests since mid-March 2011. The United Nations estimated that more than 8,000 people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown on dissent. Thousands have fled to Lebanon. -NOW Lebanon

Maronite MPs Bkirki meeting postponed, station reports
March 19, 2012 /OTV reported on Monday that the meeting scheduled for April 3 between Maronite MPs in Bkirki was postponed “due to the Lebanese Forces campaign against Marontie Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai.” Last week, LF leader Samir Geagea slammed Rai’s positions on the Syrian crisis, saying he was not “proud of them.”Rai said earlier in March that “the closest thing” to democracy in the Arab world was Syria and that he was against “turning the Arab Spring into winter.”
-NOW Lebanon

The battle of history
Hazem Saghiyeh, March 19, 2012
The showdown over the Lebanese history textbook should not go by unnoticed. Indeed, this is not about two ideological points of view, one rightist and another leftist for instance; rather, this is about two sectarian points of view, each of which reflects the sensitivity of a given community and its vision with regard to the surrounding world. In this sense, the most dangerous implication of this showdown is that the winner wants to write history according to his own will without any regard whatsoever for the points of view of the communities with whom he claims he wants to live. However, this crude and extremely selfish exploitation of the military balance of power fails to take notice of the fact that history is not decided by the aforementioned balance of power and that ideas and facts do not belong to the same category as power. Numerous parties and states that sought to dissociate culture – in the broader sense of the word – from guns became victims of this same contradiction.
In reality, surrendering in this confrontation or abstaining from delving into it leads to a dangerous result in the future, i.e. allowing the balance of force to use ideas as weapons and justifications for its actions, and subsequently to impose them and generalize them to its victims. If these victims can be expelled from history and ideas after having been expelled from politics, violence becomes the only form of expressing protest against injustice and marginalization. This can only mean the end of what is left of Lebanon in the shape of never-ending civil wars or de facto partition [of the country].
It would be no exaggeration to say that defending Lebanon’s history and pluralism is tantamount to defending Lebanon as such.
The battle of the history textbook expresses totalitarian penchants in a local sauce. In so doing, those writing this “new” history are acting exactly like totalitarians anywhere, as they claim to possess the whole truth and do not acknowledge that anyone can have part of it. Moreover, they are also loyal to our despotic neighbors in Syria and, before that, in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq back when the “cause” was the source of the truth and all knowledge. One can safely say that the “cause” of preserving Lebanon as a country of pluralism, one that enjoys political life and media freedoms, is undoubtedly more supreme than all these boring “causes”, which merely empower despotism, tyranny and the belittling of public opinion before taking us back for years and years.
The Syrians are fighting their despotic rulers nowadays and dying in this battle against those exploiting the “cause.” In contrast, it will not be too much for the Lebanese to protest against this form of disgusting despotism, which threatens them in the name of the same “cause.” **This article is a translation from the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Monday March 19, 2012


Tawfiq Taha is Al-Qaeda’s number one in Lebanon,” a security source told The Daily Star.
March 20, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: A Palestinian man accused of heading a terror cell with the aim of attacking the Lebanese Army was described Tuesday as Al-Qaeda’s number one operative in Lebanon. “Tawfiq Taha is Al-Qaeda’s number one in Lebanon,” a security source told The Daily Star.The source, who closely follows the activities of extremist groups in Lebanon, said Taha is wanted by Lebanese authorities for his involvement in over 30 security-related cases. Taha – also known as Abu Mohammad – was leader of the six-member terror cell recently charged with planning attacks on the Lebanese Army, the source added. Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged the six earlier this month with “setting up an armed gang and conducting training exercises with the aim of carrying out terrorist acts and operations against the [Lebanese] military establishment.”Among the cell members were two Lebanese Army officers. Taha is reportedly holed up in Ain al-Hilweh, the Palestinian refugee camp located near Sidon. The Lebanese Army beefed up its presence around Ain al-Hilweh Monday and enacted stringent security measures, prompting protests by Palestinian residents who complained of having their freedom of movement severely limited. The security source who spoke to The Daily Star said Taha, who was a deputy to Abdel-Rahman Mohammad Awad, “masterminded” the attacks of recent years against U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese Army in south Lebanon. Awad was Al-Qaeda’s top military official in Lebanon and succeeded Shaker Absi as leader of Fatah al-Islam, an Islamic extremist group that took over the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon and attacked the Lebanese Army in 2007 before being crushed. Awad was killed in a Lebanese Army ambush in the Bekaa Valley in Aug. 2011.“Rare are the cases being examined by the Lebanese military justice regarding terrorist attacks and bombings, including those targeting UNIFIL, in which Tawfiq Taha is not the prime suspect,” the source said.

Ain al-Hilweh calm following anti-Lebanese Army protests

March 20, 2012 /By Mohammed Zaatari The Daily Star /SIDON, Lebanon: An air of tranquility reigned Tuesday morning over Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, a day after Palestinians protested stringent security measures enacted by the Lebanese Army.The measures were introduced by the Lebanese Army due to its pursuit of Tawfiq Taha, who is accused of heading a terror cell that penetrated army ranks. Taha is reportedly holed up in Ain al-Hilweh.The army demanded last week that Palestinian factions and Islamist forces inside the camp hand over Taha to the authorities.Three of about 12 schools in Ain al-Hilweh closed Tuesday after some teachers failed to show up and others arrived late.In a meeting late Monday, the Palestinian Follow-up Committee, which comprises nationalist and Islamist factions in the camp, described the Lebanese Army as an "ally."“The Lebanese Army, which fought the Israeli enemy, is an ally of the Palestinian people,” the committee said in a statement at the end of the meeting.“We reject all acts that result in harm to the Lebanese Army,” the statement added.The committee called on the Lebanese Army to limit its measures to the entrances of the camp and refrain from “harming the interests of the camp’s inhabitants.”It slammed “chaotic action” directed against Lebanese Army checkpoints around Ain al-Hilweh and called for democratic action instead.The Lebanese Army beefed up its security presence at Ain al-Hilweh Monday, bringing in anti-riot police in response to protests by some 300 Palestinians at the camp.Demonstrations on the road leading to the southern entrance of the camp, where the Lebanese Army mans a checkpoint, were met with shots in the air by members of the Armed Palestinian Struggle force, a Fatah-dominated faction that polices the refugee camp.

Obama Condemns 'Electronic Curtain' in Iran
by Naharne/U.S. President Barack Obama, in a holiday message Tuesday to the Iranian people, said that the two nations despite their tensions share a "common humanity," as he pressed for greater freedom for those living in Iran. "There is no reason for the United States and Iran to be divided from one another," Obama said in a statement to Iranians on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, adding that "the Iranian people are denied the basic freedom to access the information that they want." "To the people of Iran, this holiday comes at a time of continued tension between our two countries," Obama said.
"But as people gather with their families, do good deeds, and welcome a new season, we are also reminded of the common humanity that we share." But the message offered fresh criticism of the Iran government on human rights issues, saying Tehran has created an "electronic curtain" for Iranians.
"The Iranian government jams satellite signals to shut down television and radio broadcasts," Obama said.
"It censors the Internet to control what the Iranian people can see and say. The regime monitors computers and cell phones for the sole purpose of protecting its own power. And in recent weeks, Internet restrictions have become so severe that Iranians cannot communicate freely with their loved ones within Iran, or beyond its borders. Technologies that should empower citizens are being used to repress them."
Because of the actions, Obama said "an electronic curtain has fallen around Iran -- a barrier that stops the free flow of information and ideas into the country, and denies the rest of the world the benefit of interacting with the Iranian people, who have so much to offer."
"I want the Iranian people to know that America seeks a dialogue to hear your views and understand your aspirations," he added.
"That's why we set up a Virtual Embassy, so you can see for yourselves what the United States is saying and doing. We're using Farsi on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus."
Even as Washington has imposed sanctions on the Iranian government, Obama said his administration "is issuing new guidelines to make it easier for American businesses to provide software and services into Iran that will make it easier for the Iranian people to use the Internet."
Millions of Iranians -- along with people of other Persian-influenced nations such as Afghanistan -- celebrate Nowruz with the start of spring, which is meant to represent renewal.
Iran and the United States have no diplomatic relations. Washington has repeatedly urged Iran's clerical regime to improve its record on human rights, including treatment of political critics and religious minorities. The Obama administration has since ramped up economic sanctions to pressure Iran to end its nuclear program, as Israel leads calls for the world to ensure that Tehran does not develop an atomic bomb. SourceAgence France Presse

Lavrov Meets Mansour: Russia to Support Ultimatum-Free U.N. Statement on Syria
by Naharnet/Russia said Tuesday it was willing to support either a U.N. Security Council statement or a resolution on peace envoy Kofi Annan's mission to Syria as long as it contained no ultimatums.
"We are ready to back the mission of U.N. and Arab League representative Kofi Annan and the proposals to the government and opposition to Syria," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after holding talks with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour. "We are ready to support his proposals to the U.N. Security Council, and not only in the form of a statement but also a resolution," he said.
But Lavrov also stressed that the proposals Annan made to Syrian President Bashar Assad during their meetings in Damascus this month had still not been published and needed to be put up for an open debate at the Security Council. "First of all, these proposals must be published," Lavrov said. "Second of all, the Security Council should approve them not as an ultimatum but with consideration for the work that is ongoing, and approve them as the basis for Kofi Annan's continuing efforts to achieve agreement between all Syrians." The U.N. Security Council was expected later Tuesday to discuss and possibly vote on a Western-drafted statement on Syria that diplomats said called for possible "further measures" if Assad failed to carry out Annan's proposals.

America, terrorism sponsor
Hussein Ibish, March 20, 2012
Now Lebanon/Has any other maxim led to greater error and remorse than the twisted logic that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Yet the irony is that this malevolent cliché is actually the most charitable interpretation for why a large and bipartisan group of prominent Americans is currently lobbying on behalf of the bizarre Iranian terrorist cult the Mujahedeen e-Khalq, or MEK.
This unlikely coalition is pressuring the US government to change its policies towards the main MEK base, “Camp Ashraf,” in Iraq and thwart American and Iraqi plans for resolving that issue. More ominously, the group is pressuring to have the MEK removed from the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.
The somewhat less charitable explanation is that many of the American MEK supporters have been paid tens of thousands of dollars for speeches and other services. Because all material dealings with the MEK are serious felonies, the Treasury Department has recently issued subpoenas to some of its key US supporters, including former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, former Department of Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton. Rendell’s office, for example, admits he has received $160,000 for such efforts over the past year.
Other prominent MEK supporters include Republican notables such as the former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, many of whom are self-styled anti-terrorism crusaders. On the Democratic side, MEK backers include former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and former Senior Allied Commander of NATO Wesley Clark.
The MEK is on the terrorism list for good reason. According to a State Department report published in 1997, the organization “assassinated at least six American citizens, supported the takeover of the US Embassy [in Tehran], and opposed the release of the American hostages.” Since then, the organization has been implicated in numerous terrorist attacks inside Iran and elsewhere, and for many years its main sponsor was Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
A further, and more disturbing, motivation for this indefensible championing of the MEK was recently revealed by NBC News. It reported that US officials said “deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group [the MEK] that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service.”
For some, it seems, although the MEK may be a terrorist group, it has the “right targets,” and therefore should be supported rather than banned.
But the MEK is not simply a run-of-the-mill dissident group employing terrorist tactics. It is a bizarre and dangerous cult run by a strange and fanatical couple, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, that reportedly keeps its members in total isolation, forbids marriages and imposes divorces, and engages in disturbing “self-criticism” sessions. Its ideology is a twisted syncretism of Shia fundamentalism, Marxism and feminism run amok. Numerous observers have aptly compared its mindset to that of the Khmer Rouge.
While the MEK opposes the foul dictatorship in Tehran, its own structure and practices reveal disturbingly similar undemocratic practices, and indeed far worse. For a simple primer on how the MEK conducts itself, readers should consult Elizabeth Rubin’s 2003 New York Times report, “The Cult of Rajavi.”
The Treasury Department is to be commended for launching a long-overdue investigation into the MEK’s well-funded US lobby, as well as its large payments to exceptionally prominent Americans who certainly ought to know better. Some have claimed ignorance about the MEK’s history and practices. However, any 10-year-old with an Internet connection could discover the truth about this nefarious organization within minutes of casual browsing.
Were the State Department to de-list the organization as a terrorist group, the official American approach to international terrorism would be shorn of any pretense of principle. Moral clarity on terrorism would be abandoned in favor of the logic of “they’re our terrorists, so they’re acceptable,” simply on the basis that their targets are the repulsive regime in Tehran and its nuclear program, possibly under Israeli state sponsorship.
For far too long, MEK front organizations have operated with impunity in the United States. Prominent Americans have accepted cash payments that with regard to other designated terrorist groups would have long since led to major prosecutions. Rather than de-listing the MEK from the terrorism list, the United States government should vigorously pursue its investigation into those Americans who have accepted payments from its front organizations.
By legitimizing the MEK, Washington would lose almost all credibility when it comes to opposing terrorism. The enemy of my enemy is by no means necessarily my friend. That way madness lies.
Hussein Ibish writes frequently about Middle Eastern affairs for numerous publications in the United States and the Arab world. He blogs at www.Ibishblog.com
*SourceAgence France


Iran already started a war, a cold one between Israel, U.S.
By Sefi Rachlevsky/Haaretz
If Netanyahu is really right about Obama, he should seek Western support of Israel. That's what senior defense officials past and present have been arguing. One could assume this is how Barak would be proceeding if he were in charge.Who said the home front isn't protected? People who have spoken in recent years with Defense Minister Ehud Barak know he's well aware of the suggestion that he take care of two things before a war with Iran: The return of Gilad Shalit and the sale of his home in the luxury Akirov Towers.
He had to take care of Shalit so he could look benevolent and patient before hundreds or thousands of lives are dumped. And the apartment? There's no better preparation for war than to sell. Because if "only" 500 people are killed, you can be sure thousands of apartments will be damaged. Barak's situation, in which he has sold his real apartment but his next one is still "on paper," is ideal. Apartments in the planning stage don't get destroyed. You can't compare Barak to former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who sold only a few of his stocks before he ordered the Second Lebanon War to get underway. These are good days for Barak. Ever since he returned to the Defense Ministry, most IDF operations have been well planned and frugal with Israeli lives. So it was with the Syrian reactor, Operation Cast Lead and the last round in the south, which is preparing us for the upcoming Israel-Iran War. Now anyone sitting in the bunkers in the heart of Tel Aviv or in the giant bunker under Jerusalem's Har Hamenuhot cemetery can be assured that their own personal real estate won't suffer any damage.
But Barak is just a footnote. Barak has no God. The thing is, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does. Not for nothing, many evangelist groups are enthusiastically supporting Netanyahu - evangelists who preach about an Israeli-Iranian war of Armageddon, which will wipe out most of the Jews, fulfilling the condition for Jesus' second coming.
So who is whose donkey? That we'll know soon. Not just about evangelists and AIPAC, but also in the Knesset.
On November 8, 1956, David Ben-Gurion, the victor in the Sinai, gave a speech in which he made clear he didn't give a damn what the United States thought. Within two days, his and Moshe Dayan's Third Kingdom of Israel backed down in the face of threats from the Russians and a U.S. president who had just won reelection.
But Netanyahu doesn't intend to back down. For Barak, the war Israel is planning is both real and a bluff to get the Americans moving. But not to Netanyahu, who decides. As far as he's concerned, there's only one script.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss did us a big favor when he slipped up on the job and didn't check whether the hundreds of millions being spent on propaganda at newspaper Israel Hayom were a violation of the Parties Funding Law. This was a favor because in a place where democracy is being trampled on, there has to be a Tishreen - the Syrian government newspaper. If not, how would we know what's really going on?
Last Thursday, the editor of Israel Hayom, Amos Regev, delivered an astounding attack on the Americans and their government. Maybe he didn't go so far as to say that the newspaper's backer, Sheldon Adelson, has determined that President Barack Obama's policies are liable to lead to Israel's destruction, but it came close to that.
Regev compared Israel to a man whose car breaks down on the road to Jerusalem. A driver who stops to help claims that he was a mechanic in the Armored Corps, but messes things up even more. According to Regev, writing in the party organ, Obama isn't even an army mechanic and his intentions apparently aren't good. His article didn't sling mud on Obama only. The United States, he said, hasn't been able to win a war in decades. The only ones who can win are the Israelis.
When hostile countries achieve a nuclear capability, a cold war begins. But a cold war has already broken out, only it's not between Israel and Iran. It's between Israel and the United States. The whole global drama taking place is essentially between Israel and the United States. Iran is just a chance remark in this confrontation.
Netanyahu - the commissioner of the generations that won't come after us - has a great fear, but it's not Iran. Netanyahu is afraid that the U.S. administration will cook up an agreement with Iran in an effort to prevent Israel from attacking in the summer. Since that's the case, Netanyahu is liable to push to attack quickly, before such talks even begin.
It's understood that if Netanyahu is really right about Obama, his policy ought to be reversed; he should seek Western support of Israel. That's what senior defense officials past and present have been arguing. One could assume this is how Barak would be proceeding if he were in charge.
But as one of the first Israelis who was a victim of kibbutzim's communal sleeping arrangements, with no parents present, Barak insists on having his own teddy bear. The leaders of the kibbutz are the ones with vision. The people who have God in them. The people who believe in their power to defeat America. This God is better not to trust in.


No leads to Jewish school murders in Toulouse

DEBKAfile Special Report March 20, 2012/French security circles close to the investigation of the shooting Monday, March 19, which left a teacher and three children dead at the Ozar Hatora school in Toulouse, told debkafile Tuesday that they have no leads as yet to the killer or suspects. He vanished by motorbike as mysteriously as he arrived at the school. All that can be deduced for now was that he was a trained - and possibly a hired - assassin. This theory is strengthened by one of the witnesses reporting that he had a video camera hanging around his neck. He may have used it to record the attack on the Jewish school along with his report to whoever paid him to commit the crime. The French investigators are not even sure that the school killer was also responsible for the point blank shooting Thursday, March 15 in the neighboring town of Montauban of French paratroops of North African descent who had served in Afghanistan. Three soldiers died and one was badly injured. Even if the same pistol was used in both cases, it might have been passed by a single paymaster to two killers. Initial ballistic tests indicate that different bullets may have been fired. Witness descriptions between the two attacks vary: The man who shot the soldiers is described as tubby, while the school shooter was said to appear very fit. The same French sources were surprised to hear Israeli media suggestions that the Ozar Hatora murders were part of a chain of hate crimes perpetrated by pro-Nazi soldiers expelled from the French army. Nothing points in that direction, they say. French political sources with links to security services told debkafile that the investigation is also exploring the theory that the two attacks were somehow related to the French presidential election coming up in a month. Both President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running for reelection, and his Socialist rival, Francois Hollande, were quick to grasp the ramifications of the terrorist killings for their campaigns. They lost no time in flying to the scene of the crime and responding to the horror - no doubt sincerely, but also in a politically appropriate manner. Until some light is shed on the motives for the killings, France has boosted security at all faith schools in the country as well as Jewish institutions.

."Cruel" gunman filmed French school carnage: minister

By John Irish and Jean Décotte | Reuters
TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - The gunman who shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school was a cold, cruel killer who filmed his carnage, France's interior minister said, as the country prepared to hold a silent tribute to the victims on Tuesday.
Claude Gueant told reporters video surveillance tapes at the school in Toulouse showed the gunman was recording his shooting spree with a small video camera attached to his neck.
"This adds another element to the profile of the killer. It is someone who is cruel enough to record it," Gueant said at a primary school in the southwestern city.
"This shows a profile of the murderer as someone who is very cold, very determined, with precise gestures, and therefore very cruel," Gueant added.
The school attack, and the killing of three soldiers last week, has stunned France and prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leading candidates to suspend campaigning for next month's presidential election.
More than 200 police officers have joined the hunt for the gunman, who is the prime suspect in the killing of three paratroopers in two separate shootings last week in Toulouse and the nearby town of Montauban, to the north.
Gueant said police were pursuing several leads into the attacks, which shared a number features. In each attack, the gunman arrived on a stolen scooter and used a Colt 45 handgun.
Sarkozy ordered security tightened in Toulouse, with guards posted at religious sites and the terror alert raised to its highest level in Toulouse and the surrounding region.
"We will track down this monster. We will find him, bring him to justice and punish him," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said of the killer on France 2 television.
A child who survived the attack spoke of his feelings of terror as the shots rang out through the school.
"We were getting ready for prayers when the principal stormed in and screamed that there was a shooting. I panicked and fled to the old canteen and heard the shots, but saw nothing," an 11-year old boy who survived the attack told France Info radio.
"I thought he was going to come in any minute and finish us all. Then I waited and waited and then my daddy came to get me," he said.
Police have not named a suspect but are searching the city of around one million for a man they believed could be a trained marksman, as well as the Yamaha scooter he used to flee. The shooter's face was hidden by a motorcycle helmet during the attack.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said on Monday the school killings appeared to be motivated by racism, was due to attend a one minute silent vigil at 1100 a.m. (1000 GMT) in a Paris secondary school. Schools in all of France will observe a minute of silence.
At the entrance to the school, a five-floor brick building in a leafy residential neighborhood, residents and parents left floral tributes and candles in memory of the victims.
The bodies of three of the victims, who had dual French and Israeli nationality, were expected to be sent to Israel but no details were available about the timing.
ANTI-SEMITISM
Monday's shooting was the most deadly anti-Semitic attack on French soil in nearly 30 years. In August, 1982, six people were killed in a combined grenade and gun attack at the Goldenberg restaurant in Paris' Marais Jewish district.
"Anti-Semitism exists in France, we have fought it for years," Juppe said. He said Jewish organizations had complained about an increase in anti-Semitic incidents recently, but rejected suggestions racial tensions stirred during the campaign could have triggered the attacks.
"Nobody should try to benefit in any way from this drama, which is in no way linked to the electoral campaign," Juppe said.
Sarkozy, who is seeking re-election in a two-round election in April and May, said he would suspend his campaign until Wednesday. Far-right chief Marine Le Pen, trailing frontrunner Hollande and Sarkozy, also made a similar pledge.
Dominique Reynie, head of the Fondapol politics institute, said the killings could transform the election campaign, five weeks before polling day.
"The tone of the campaign cannot go back to what it was," he told Reuters. "The campaign was dominated by an aggressive tone and a strong degree of populist rhetoric. This rhetoric will cease because there will be voter demand for healing."
(Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq, Emmanuel Jarry and Marine Pennetier; writing by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Gunman may have filmed killings at French school; hunt for killer intensifies
By Jamey Keaten,Johanna Decorse, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press –
TOULOUSE, France - Hundreds of police blanketed southern France on Tuesday, searching for a gunman — possibly a racist, anti-Semitic serial killer — who killed four people at a Jewish school and may have filmed his attack. Authorities suspect the same killer was behind attacks last week on French paratroopers of North African and French Caribbean origin.
France was reeling Tuesday after Monday's shooting in the southern city of Toulouse, the deadliest school shooting in the country and the bloodiest attack on Jewish targets in decades. Schools across the country held a moment of silence to honour the victims, who were heading to Israel for burial. "The children are exactly like you," President Nicolas Sarkozy told junior high children in Paris after joining them for the moment of silence. "That could have happened here."
He vowed to find the killer.
He was speaking at a public school across the street from a memorial to the French people who helped Jews during the Holocaust, when most of France was occupied by the Nazis.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the attacker was "wearing around his neck an apparatus" that could be used to film and post video online. He said that gave investigators new clues to the killer's "profile," though he admitted they don't appear to close to an arrest.
Gueant described the suspect as "someone very cold, very determined, very much a master of his movements, and by consequence, very cruel."
In Monday's shooting, the attacker first gunned down a rabbi and his 4-year-old and 5-year-old sons, then chased down the 7-year-old daughter of the school principal, shooting her dead at point-blank range. Asked whether the gunman recorded the scene, Gueant responded, "We can imagine that." But he added that authorities have not yet found any images of the killings online.
Gueant said authorities are studying reports about three paratroopers kicked out of a regiment near Toulouse in 2008 for suspected neo-Nazi activity, but said is one of many leads and "not favoured any more than the others." He stressed the need to increase security at synagogues and other Jewish sites in France. "All believers in France must feel protected in their faith," he said. Sarkozy is meeting with members of France's Jewish and Muslim community. France has the largest population of Jews and Muslims in western Europe.
Hundreds of police are looking for the killer, the terror threat level was raised to scarlet across a swath of southern France — the highest level since the four-point system was created in 2003.
It was the third motorbike killing in the region in about a week. In all three killings, the assailant fled on a motorbike.
In Toulouse on Tuesday, France's fourth city, the town centre is usually bustling with activity, but the streets were emptier than normal. In one of the main squares, Place Wilson, a dozen police officers were on patrol, with some guarding the subway entrance.
The shootings echoed across a nation that has been focused on an upcoming presidential race in which issues about religious minorities and race have gained prominence. Sarkozy — who has struck a nationalist line in his campaigning — raised the terrorism alert level in the region to its highest level, while also noting a possible racist motive.
All of the dead were dual Israeli-French citizens. Police bearing automatic weapons stood in front of Jewish schools in Paris on Tuesday.
"It's impossible not to imagine the worst, because it can happen to any child in France at some point," said Mendy Sarfati, a father dropping his three children off at a Jewish school in Paris. "We wish to put this drama behind us and that the French Republic will draw lessons from it."
**Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris contributed to this report.

Russia calls on Syria, rebels to hold daily truces
By Thomas Grove | Reuters
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his foes on Monday to agree to daily humanitarian truces, backing an initiative from the International Committee of the Red Cross to treat the wounded in the violence-torn country. Russia is one of Syria's main remaining international allies but it is unclear how much influence Moscow can wield over Damascus more than a year into a bloody uprising against Assad. Russia's foreign ministry called on both Damascus and the armed opposition to agree "without delay to daily humanitarian pauses" after ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.
Moscow also called for the ICRC to have access to "those detained in Syria for their participation in protests".
On February 21, the ICRC, the only international agency to deploy aid workers in Syria, proposed a daily humanitarian ceasefire of two hours to allow time to evacuate the wounded and deliver food, medicine and other vital supplies.
Kellenberger said he told Lavrov on Monday the situation had grown more "urgent" and that a likely deterioration made the need for the daily ceasefires all the more important.
"It cannot be that when you have the most intense fighting you do not have access to evacuate the wounded," Kellenberger told Reuters in an interview.
"We also want to do protection activities, and by that I mean protection of medical missions, and it means access to detainees so that we can check their conditions and treat them."
Kellenberger told Reuters Lavrov had "clearly agreed to and was supportive of" the ceasefire idea.
The ICRC chief said it was not clear what channels Russia would use to exert pressure on Assad.
CONCRETE RESULTS
For the daily ceasefire to work, Kellenberger said: "I need unambiguous commitment from all those concerned. And this I do not have. I mean from the government side but also from the armed opposition."
The government "is in favor in principle, but you know how it is with principles, so I wouldn't consider it an unambiguous commitment."
Among the opposition, Kellenberger said he had received a positive response from the Free Syrian Army, but had not got the same support from the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group abroad. The ICRC's meeting with Lavrov was held "in the framework of its contacts with all those who could have a positive influence on its action in Syria," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told Reuters in Geneva. "We hope to see concrete results from such contacts on the ground in coming days or weeks," he said.
Russia has shielded Assad from U.N. Security Council condemnation by vetoing two Western-backed draft resolutions along with China.
Russia has continued delivering arms to Syria, whose ties with Moscow date back to the Soviet era, and has warned Western and Arab nations against military or political interference, while expressing its support for international humanitarian aid efforts.
In a rare show of unity with Western powers, Russia and China joined other U.N. Security Council members on March 1 in expressing "deep disappointment" at Syria's failure to allow U.N. humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos to visit the country, saying she should be let in immediately.
Amos has since been allowed to enter Syria, and has called for unhindered access for humanitarian aid.
Taking an unusually firm tone in remarks published on Saturday, Lavrov urged Syria to support U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peacemaking efforts "without delay" and said Moscow disagreed with many of the decisions Assad's government has taken.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States was heartened by Russia's public support for the ICRC ceasefire proposal.
(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Andrew Heavens)


Toulouse shootings shows hatred has more than one source
By Jean-Yves Camus/Haaretz
To believe that the only kind of anti-Semitism in France today is a reaction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dangerous nonsense.
The shooting spree against a Jewish school in Toulouse on March 19 is the most serious anti-Semitic attack that has taken place in France since Paris' Jo Goldenberg restaurant was bombed in 1982, with the loss of six lives. While it is too early yet to identify the killer and his ideology, intelligence officials here have made a link between this cold-blooded murder, carried in a military style by a lone killer, and the assassination of three servicemen a couple of days ago from a paratroopers' unit who served in Afghanistan. Those shootings have taken place in the same region, they seem to have been carried out by the same man, with the same weapon. What has sparked suggestions of a common ideological cause for these killings is that all the victims are from minority groups, whether Jews in the case of the school, or Muslim north African or West Indian, in the case of the soldiers.
Today investigators say that there are three possible motivations for the killer: he might be an Islamist; a former soldier suffering from battle trauma who has run amok; or a neo-Nazi walking in the steps of Anders Breivik. In the military unit whose members were killed, three soldiers were discharged in 2008 because they displayed a swastika flag in the barracks. The police take seriously the possibility of a link between all those cases.
But so far the most important fact to emerge for the Jewish community in France is that they will have to learn how to live under threat from an enemy that is not necessarily a terrorist network with a leadership and cells, but one which follows the pattern of "leaderless resistance," a concept believed to be on the rise within a range of radical movements, both Islamist and extreme-right.
Jewish communal institutions repeated on Monday that, although the Toulouse killings are the most dramatic and deadly anti-Jewish action for decades, they are only the most shocking among the 400 anti-Semitic incidents that are recorded every year by the community’s protection service, the SPCJ. Since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, the level of anti-Semitic attacks has been rising, with a peak of more than 900 in 2004. And regardless of the real efforts of the French government, police and justice authorities, the level of attacks remains much higher than in the 1990s.
The so-called "new" anti-Semitism of the post-Intifada era emanates mostly from radicalized (although not often observant) Muslim immigrants or long-standing citizens, and it is rooted both in religious prejudice and in anger emerging from support for the Palestinian cause. The Jewish community has come to believe that this is the only source of anti-Semitism in France, with some would-be scholars and experts even claiming that France has become part of "Eurabia," or a Europe colonized by Islam. This is dangerous nonsense. As shown in the Breivik case, sectarian hatred and bigotry, a bigotry that kills, can equally emanate from the other end of the political spectrum, for neo-Nazis may not scale intellectual heights, but they do have enough brains to hate Jews and Muslims at the same time, and for much of the same reasons. They also have the brawn to turn their ideology into real events.
*Jean-Yves Camus is a Research Associate with the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRES), France

Something is Happening in Damascus
Farid Ghadry Blog/Reform Party of Syria
"Since when Russia cares about its people to send special forces to protect them? Russian Spetsnaz forces, under Putin, chemically gazed the Chechnyan terrorists with their hostages in the 2002 Nord-Ost siege of the Dubrovka theater killing four times the number of hostages than the number of terrorists."
Something is Happening in Damascus
The events of the last 24 hours in Syria leads me to believe that there is something big that just happened beyond what we read in the news.
Yesterday, the Russians sent special military units into Syria and an oil tanker dropped anchor in Tartus port with support from a Russian Equator reconnaissance ship off the Syrian coast. All under the pretext their mission is to protect the Russian cadre of diplomats and nationals. Some 200,000 Russians make Syria their home. However, in the history of the Middle East, Russians have never dispatched special forces to any country to protect their own.
Oil? Reconnaissance? Russian special forces? There is more to this story than the public cover.
Parallel to the Russian invasion, the threats of both WMD and the large arsenal of missiles the Russians and the Iranians have equipped Assad with is a high concern issue for the international community. Not just because these may fall in the wrong hands but also because Assad is imbalanced enough to think of launching them. If Assad's brother Majd died of mental illness, that vein exists in every Assad who is descendent of Suleiman, father to Hafez, Rifaat, and Jamil.
Further, the Mazzeh battle yesterday between the Assad loyalists and the rebellious Syrians fighting for life and liberty has had an impact on the psyche of Assad, especially in light of major attacks on the Air Force Intelligence buildings two days earlier in Aleppo; this makes the WMD concerns legitimate enough for covert operations against his rule.
As of yesterday, fighting could erupt anyplace, anytime and no area is safe in Syria. In my book, this qualifies as a full blown-out civil war.
The Russian equation backing Assad so conclusively and overtly has never been witnessed before in the region; even during the height of the Cold War when the US and the Soviets were battling each other through Arab-Israeli wars. The vacuum left behind by a hurried US exiting the region and implementing an Erdogan caretaker policy provides the Russians with an opportunity to stick it to the Americans and to re-emerge as a powerhouse through a full-throttled support of Assad. The ultimate price would be levied by the Syrian people dying while waiting for help and the Israelis sensing Obama has abandoned them to the radical wolves of the region.
Whomever gave Obama this idea of outsourcing US interests to Erdogan should appear in front of Congress to explain himself.
With all these events taking place so suddenly, would it be safe to assume that something extremely important has just happened in Damascus? What if a failed military coup prompted the Russians to back Assad and Iran's heavy infiltration with added reinforcements? What if these special counter-terrorism forces have entered Syria to protect Assad from putsches?
Since when Russia cares about its people to send special forces to protect them? Russian Spetsnaz forces, under Putin, chemically gazed the Chechnyan terrorists with their hostages in the 2002 Nord-Ost siege of the Dubrovka theater killing four times the number of hostages than the number of terrorists. This on top of a Stalinist history that recorded 40 million Soviets killed by his regime of terror.
Something is really up in Damascus and If I have to make a bet, it must be regime supporters flipping against their boss. Who would not after reading their emails?
Copyrights © Reform Party of Syria (Project Syria, Inc.) 2003-2011

Peres to Iran: Return to your Persian heritage of culture, not missiles
By Nir Hasson and The Associated Press/Haaretz
President sends greeting for Persian new year; urges Iranian leaders not to threaten anyone or make their 'children flee home,' an apparent reference to the possibility of war. President Shimon Peres sent greetings for the Persian new year to the Iranian people yesterday, urging them to "replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values, not of bombs and missiles." Speaking first in Farsi and then in Hebrew, Peres also urged Iranian leaders not to threaten anyone or make their "children flee home," an apparent reference to the possibility of war. The greeting for Nowruz, the Iranian new year that is celebrated today, was broadcast over Israel Radio's Farsi service, which is popular in Iran. Peres opened his greeting in Farsi, wishing Iranians wherever they may be a happy Nowruz. "I wish the Iranian people a real, true holiday, in which they may taste freedom, dignity and human honor," he said. "It is not too late to replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values, not of bombs and missiles.
"At times I ask myself how such a civilized nation, with such a rich history, has allowed such a radical, blind and hate-filled group to dishonor its historic legacy. How does a people permit a regime to sow fear, rob people of their freedom and horrify the younger generation, which is looking for a way out of dictatorial Iran?"
Peres to Iran: Return to your Persian heritage of culture, not missiles
President sends greeting for Persian new year; urges Iranian leaders not to threaten anyone or make their 'children flee home,' an apparent reference to the possibility of war.
By Nir Hasson and The Associated Press
President Shimon Peres sent greetings for the Persian new year to the Iranian people yesterday, urging them to "replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values, not of bombs and missiles." Speaking first in Farsi and then in Hebrew, Peres also urged Iranian leaders not to threaten anyone or make their "children flee home," an apparent reference to the possibility of war.
The greeting for Nowruz, the Iranian new year that is celebrated today, was broadcast over Israel Radio's Farsi service, which is popular in Iran.
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Peres opened his greeting in Farsi, wishing Iranians wherever they may be a happy Nowruz. "I wish the Iranian people a real, true holiday, in which they may taste freedom, dignity and human honor," he said. "It is not too late to replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values, not of bombs and missiles.
"At times I ask myself how such a civilized nation, with such a rich history, has allowed such a radical, blind and hate-filled group to dishonor its historic legacy. How does a people permit a regime to sow fear, rob people of their freedom and horrify the younger generation, which is looking for a way out of dictatorial Iran?" Peres asked.
"Iran, once loved by many countries worldwide, has turned the whole world against it ... The Iranian regime puts all its money into its nuclear [program], abandoning its people to wallow in poverty and hunger. Enriched uranium cannot feed the hungry," he concluded.

Obama's Risky Ploy - Iran

By: Leslie J. Sacks
There are now many self-evident and destabilizing developments:
1) Obama feels more comfortable with Turkey's Erdogan, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, perhaps even with the Iranian leadership, than with Netanyahu. He likely believes Netanyahu is the least rational, the least predictable in the arena.
2) Obama and many of his advisors have felt for a long time that containment of Iran's nuclear program (even its attainment of nuclear weapons), is not only possible but preferable to war.
3) Obama's public proclamations change creatively with the audience. He is, after all, the perfect politician, a natural chameleon. His recent support for Israel, at the preeminent Aipac conference, is too-little-too-late to fully dispense with his visceral dislike of Netanyahu and his consistent lack of empathy for Israel's past security policies. He has yet to visit Israel during his presidential term, yet he saw fit to wax eloquent in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
4) So Obama prefers no military confrontation. This would raise gas prices, hurt the economy (albeit temporarily), and damage Obama's reelection prospects, his primary and all-consuming goal.

5) The USA has the conclusive and indisputable ability to obliterate the Iranian nuclear program. It can do so in an exceptionally efficient, pin-pointed and largely non-lethal way. Iran would then measure its response modestly, for to be too aggressive would in turn invite America's wrath, most likely leading to the destruction of Iran's military and industrial capability. This follow-up response would put the regime at risk and embolden the opposition - the worst outcome for the ruling despots, as they could live without nuclear weapons but not without their absolute power.
6) However, Obama abhors the idea of being identified as a war president, especially one who supported intransigent Israel against the victims of colonialism and imperialism in the Middle East. He would after all prefer to be president of the World's United Nations, rather than just the USA.
7) Ingeniously, Obama is playing a very deft poker game in the Middle East:
-First he established negotiation as his primary tool
-Then he instituted inconclusive and slow-acting sanctions
-Now that everyone is, as a result, running out of time, he sets a timeline for the USA that suits only Ahmadinejad and the State Department, that of disallowing Iran to actually assemble a bomb
-The danger is that only America can, at that late stage with its incomparable reach and firepower, destroy Iran's nuclear program
-Then Israel will necessarily be dependent on Obama's word, his changing assurances. Israel's timeline ends much sooner and she needs to take out the nuclear facilities before they are hardened further, before the essential components are dispersed even more widely
-Obama knows this and is relying on Israel's immutable commitment to retain control over its own destiny, to never allow its existential existence to fall into the hands of others, whether it's Obama or Khomeini
-So Obama, with vote-enhancing pronouncements of support for Israel, will bide his time, forcing Israel's hand, ensuring Israel ultimately takes responsibility for its own fate and attacks Iran's facilities, thereby neutering Iran's nuclear risks for the USA and the world as well
8) The poker hand is thus played with disarming charm and panache, with believable concern. Israel is blamed for Iran's reaction, for oil price hikes, for economic dislocation. Obama is lauded as Israel's best friend, and gets re-elected. Game over.
JUST IN - A leading Israeli newspaper (and numerous blogs here in the USA) reported that Obama and the White House have offered Netanyahu crucial bunker busters and advanced refueling planes if, and only if, Israel guarantees to wait until after Obama's re-election to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, a risky proposition indeed. These bombs and planes would presumably allow Israel to delay their preemptive attack as they would provide the ability to go deeper, for far longer. To place Israel's survival (and Iran's genocidal pledges) behind Obama's political agenda suggests an order of cynical and political blackmail no former U.S. president would likely have countenanced. The White House ambiguously denies parts of this story. I would like to believe the veracity of this report is suspect - I pray it would be so. Time surely will tell.
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