WarSclerotic

Zionist Organization of America – Press Releases – Obama Rightly Threatens Cut in U.S. Aid to Egypt Over Detention of Americans – But Not Over the Brotherhood’s Declaration to End Israel Peace Treaty Under Which Egypt Receives Aid.

The Obama Administration has appropriately reacted to the detention in Egypt of several American nationals by threatening to cut U.S. aid to Cairo – something it has not done till now, despite explicit Muslim Brotherhood statements about abrogating the Israeli/Egyptian peace treaty, under which Cairo has been the recipient of over $40 billion in U.S. aid over the past thirty years. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization established in 1928 and precursor of Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, recently won a majority of seats in the Egyptian parliament.

A top U.S. official’s son who is working for a pro-democracy group in Egypt has been barred from leaving the country, along with at least five other Americans, escalating a crackdown on such groups by Egypt’s military government. Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the director of the Egyptian program of the International Republican Institute (IRI), a Washington-based civil society organization, was turned away from leaving Egypt at Cairo airport earlier this week. The IRI is one of three U.S.-based nonprofit groups in Cairo that were raided and shut down on Dec. 29 by Egyptian authorities, who accused the groups of using foreign funds to support unrest in Egypt. Some of the Americans might even face trials.

As many as 40 foreigners are now on a travel ban list as a result of the Egyptian investigation. Scott Mastic, the IRI’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “It’s absolutely an escalation …. To have a strategic U.S. ally issue bans against American citizens is deeply troubling.” In private, State Department officials have also told Egypt that its actions are jeopardizing U.S. aid to Egypt’s military. U.S. military aid to Egypt totals more than $1.3 billion a year. Despite the State Department’s intervention, the Egyptian government has given no sign of backing off its investigation of the American groups (Leila Fadel, ‘Son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood barred from leaving Egypt,’ Washington Post, January 26, 2012).

In recent days, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Rashad al-Bayoumi said that the Muslim Brotherhood “did not sign the peace accords [with Israel] … We will take the proper legal steps in dealing with the peace deal … To me, it isn’t binding at all. The people will express their opinion on the matter … On no condition will we recognize Israel. It is an enemy entity … We won’t cooperate with Israel in any situation” (Roi Kais, ‘Muslim Brotherhood: Israel peace deal isn’t binding,’ Yediot Ahronot, January 1, 2012). Last year, too, Bayoumi emphasized the objective of abrogating the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Also last year, the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Muhammad Badi’, spoke enthusiastically of jihad and called for a state based on Islamic law. He also spoke optimistically about the U.S. heading for a collapse.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Egypt is a recipient of massive U.S. aid for one reason only – because it concluded a peace agreement with Israel. Had it not done so, it would never have received over $40 billion of aid from the U.S. taxpayer. Yet, despite an explicit Muslim Brotherhood platform demanding the abrogation of the U.S.-brokered peace treaty and explicit statements by Brotherhood leaders about their intention to end the treaty, President Obama has not threatened to cut off aid to Egypt. To the contrary, he has continued to closely engage the Brotherhood. Only now, when U.S. nationals are being detained, does the State Department raise the issue of continued aid. 

“One must ask why President Obama has been silent until now on cutting U.S. aid to Egypt. It is quite astonishing that, until now, the words, deeds and platform of the Muslim Brotherhood and its spokesmen on the peace with Israel – the very basis of U.S. aid to Egypt – did not induce President Obama to threaten cutting off U.S. aid to Egypt.

“We strongly urge Obama to make it publicly clear that he will cut off U.S. aid if the Egyptian government abrogates the Israeli/Egyptian peace treaty.”

Iranian Religious Leader: We’re Already Nuclear – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

Iranian flag

Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons / public domain

Senior Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said on Friday that Iran is already a nuclear state and that Americans have not realized that.

“The United States says it will not allow Iran to be nuclear, but it is so blind that it hasn’t noticed that Iran has already become a nuclear state,” Khatami was quoted by Channel 10 News as having said. He added that the U.S. has become isolated in the region, after its four “slaves” were removed from power. He was referring to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Khatami also addressed the EU’s embargo on Iranian oil imports, which was announced this week, and said that the Europeans decided to wait with the implementation of the sanctions until July because their economic situation is no better than Iran’s.

“Why did the Europeans decide to wait half a year before implementing the sanctions? The answer is simple – the Europeans have their own serious trouble – they were hit by the financial crisis,” he said.

Khatami added the embargo will hurt Europe more than it will hurt Iran, because Saudi Arabia will not be able to provide the required amount of oil to Europe, while the sanctions will only hurt 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

Pentagon wants commando “mothership” – The Washington Post.

AP – The United States amphibious assault ship USS Ponce sails through the Suez Canal in March 2011. If retrofitted as “the mothership,” the vessel could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs

he Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats.

In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show.

Special Operations forces are a key part of the Obama administration’s strategy to make the military leaner and more agile as the Pentagon confronts at least $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.

Lt. Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, declined to elaborate on the floating base’s purpose or to say where, exactly, it will be deployed in the Middle East. Other Navy officials acknowledged that they were moving with unusual haste to complete the conversion and send the mothership to the region by early summer.

Navy documents indicate that it could be headed to the Persian Gulf, where Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for much of the world’s oil supply. A market survey proposal from the Military Sealift Command, dated Dec. 22 and posted online, states that the floating base needed to be delivered to the Persian Gulf.

Other contract documents do not specify a location but say the mothership would be used to “support mine countermeasure” missions. Defense officials have said that if Iran did attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, it would rely on mines to obstruct the waterway.

With a large naval base in Bahrain, and one or two aircraft carrier groups usually assigned to the region, the Navy has a substantial presence in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters. Adding the mothership would do relatively little to bolster U.S. maritime power overall, but it could play an instrumental role in secretive commando missions offshore.

The deployment of the floating base could also mark a return to maritime missions for SEAL teams, which for the past decade have spent most of their time on land in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other details of the project became public Tuesday when the Military Sealift Command posted a bid request to retrofit the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, on a rush-order basis.

Until December, the Navy had planned to retire the Ponce and decommission it in March after 41 years of service. Among other missions, it was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea last year in support of NATO’s air war over Libya.

Instead, the ship will be modified into what the military terms an Afloat Forward Staging Base. Kafka said it would be used to support mine-clearance ships, smaller patrol ships and aircraft.

The documents posted by the Military Sealift Command in December, however, specify that the mothership will be rebuilt so that it can also serve as a docking station for several small high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEAL teams.

Among the vessels listed are Mark 5 Zodiacs, inflatable boats that can carry up to 15 passengers and can roll up into bags, and seven-meter-long Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats, which can carry an entire SEAL squad.

SEAL teams also deploy from regular warships, but most vessels in the Navy’s fleet must patrol or move around on a regular basis. A mothership can stay in one spot for weeks or months, effectively serving as a floating base for commandos as they monitor coastal areas or prepare for amphibious operations.

The U.S. Special Operations Command has sought a transportable floating base for several years, saying that a mothership would expand the range of commando squads operating from small speedboats, particularly in remote coastal areas.

Defense officials said the Ponce will serve as a stopgap measure until the Navy can build a new Afloat Forward Staging Base from scratch. In budget documents released Thursday, the Pentagon said it would fund that project starting next year.

The floating base also could be suited to the coast of Somalia, a failed state that is home to an al-Qaeda affiliate and gangs of pirates. A mothership there would give SEALs or other commandos more flexibility in missions such as Wednesday’s rescue of a pair of American and Danish hostages who had been held for months by Somali pirates.

The term “mothership” is also commonly used to describe a vessel used by Somali pirates. After hijacking a large container or cargo vessel, pirate crews often turn it into a floating base to extend the range of their skiffs or speedboats far into the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf.

U.S. military officials declined to say what prompted them to give the Ponce a sudden new lease on life. But contract and bidding documents underscore the urgency of the project.

One no-bid contract for engineering work states that the military was waiving normal procurement rules because any delay presented a “national security risk.” Other contract bids are due Feb. 3. The Navy wants the conversion work to begin 10 days later on the Ponce, which is docked in Virginia Beach.

Postponed Israel-U.S. Drill to be Held in October – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Israeli and US army officers

Israel news photo: IDF

The largest-ever anti-missile military exercise with the United States, which Israel postponed a week and a half ago, will be held in October, the Ma’ariv newspaper reported on Thursday.

The report said that the decision to hold the exercise in October was reached late on Thursday night, after lengthy discussions between defense officials.

The “Austere Challenge 12” drill, which is designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli forces, was postponed on January 15 for what Israel said was “technical” reasons.

Ma’ariv reported that the postponement was initiated by Israel and was agreed upon by the Americans. After the drill was postponed, the report said, security officials denied that the postponement was linked to economic reasons and suggested that “at this time of year we should not attract attention and prepare for complex challenges” which lay ahead.

Ma’ariv also noted that in preparation for the drill, U.S. military officers will arrive in Israel next week. About 3,000 U.S. soldiers are expected to arrive in Israel to take part in the large-scale exercise, the report said, and they will be joined by about 2,000 IDF soldiers.

U.S. bombs not strong enough to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, report says – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

(Thia HAS to be disinfo.  Why else would Panetta tell this to Iran? – JW)

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Defense Secretary Panetta, Pentagon officials say Washington seeking new weapons that would overcome depth of Iranian enrichment facilities, recent fortifications.

By Haaretz

The United States does not possess conventional armament powerful enough to destroy Iran’s deeply hidden nuclear facilities, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal late Friday, with American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saying Washington was “still trying” to develop more powerful bombs.

	A nuclear facility under construction inside a mountain located about 20 miles north northeast of Qom, Iran.
	Photo by: AP

Late last year, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Air Force received new 15-ton bombs capable of destroying deep underground bunkers, ahead of a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear plants.

The bombs, designed to be delivered by B-2 stealth bombers and called Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP), “will meet requirements for the current operational need,” U.S. Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller said in a statement in November.

However, speaking to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, U.S. officials estimated that even the 15-ton bombs would not be powerful to put a full stop to Iran’s nuclear program, either because of some of the facilities’ depth or their newly added fortifications.

One unnamed officials said Pentagon analysts estimated that currently held conventional bombs would not be effective against Iran’s enrichment plant in Fordo, adding that a tactical nuclear would be the only option if Washington sought to destroy the facility.

“Once things go into the mountain, then really you have to have something that takes the mountain off,” the official told the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking of the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, one official indicated that the U.S.’ MOPs could suffice, adding, however, that “even that is guesswork.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the U.S. defense secretary referred to the need to develop bombs potent enough to pierce Iran’s defenses, saying: “We’re still trying to develop them,” Mr. Panetta said.

Should Washington decide to use the MOP anyway, Panetta added, it could cause “a lot of damage” to Iran’s hidden facilities, adding, however, that the bunker busters wouldn’t necessarily destroy them outright.

“We’re developing it. I think we’re pretty close, let’s put it that way. But we’re still working at it because these things are not easy to be able to make sure that they will do what we want them to,” Panetta added, saying: “But I’m confident, frankly, that we’re going to have that capability and have it soon.”

Despite questions regarding the MOP’s ability permanently damage Iran’ nuclear facilities, one U.S. security official speaking to the Wall Street Journal said that “the Massive Ordnance Penetrators are by no means the only capability at our disposal to deal with potential nuclear threats in Iran.”

Another official said that the U.S. make up for the MOPs’ current inability by using them in tandem with other guided weapons against a bunker’s entry and exit points—provided, however, that U.S. intelligence is aware of the position of those openings.

New reports about the current American inability to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions with a conventional strike came after, earlier Friday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a “surgical” military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran’s oil and banks so that “we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program.”

Iran insists its atomic program is only aimed at producing energy and research, but has repeatedly refused to consider giving up its ability to enrich uranium.

“We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table and Iran should be blocked from turning nuclear,” Barak old reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

“It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them,” he said.

Barak called it “a challenge for the whole world” to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran but stopped short of confirming any action that could further stoke Washington’s concern about a possible Israeli military strike.