WarSclerotic

For what it’s worth… – YouTube.

The first in a series of vids I hope to make on a daily basis regarding stories posted on “A Sclerotic Goes to War.”

Today’s vid covers:

1. NY Times leak of Obama planning one-on-one talks with Iran after the election.
2. Israel holds largest anti missile drill in history with the US.
3. Israel holds largest home front drill to respond to “earthquake,” i.e. missile/nuclear attack.
4. FRANCE: Iran seems on track for nukes by mid 2013.
5. Record support in the US for strikes against Iran ahead of the debate.

Any and all feedback in the comments on this post would be most appreciated.

Joseph Wouk

Record Support For Strikes Against Iran Ahead Of Debate | The New Republic.

Nate Cohn

October 20, 2012 | 7:56 pm

AFP/Getty Images

Hizbullah Rockets, Meant for Jews, Killing Arabs – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

Katyusha missile

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Hizbullah’s rockets were meant to be used against Israel. Instead, it appears they are now being fired at Arabs. Syrian opposition forces say Hizbullah has been firing hundreds of rockets into Syria on a daily basis, and is a full participant in the Syrian civil war.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committee-member, Mohamed al-Homsi, accused Hizbullah of “intervening in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime with all of its power,” adding “Hizbullah is firing its rockets – the same rockets that it claims are to fight Israel – into Syrian territory to kill Syrian people.”

Al-Homsi, who is a member of the Homs Local Coordination Committee, confirmed that “between 100 and 150 rockets and mortar shells are being fired by Hizbullah into the Syrian town of al-Qaseer and the surrounding villages on a daily basis, from the group’s military positions in Hermel [on the Syrian-Lebanese border].”

He told Asharq Al-Awsat “it has become clear that Hizbullah is taking part, with all of its strength, in this battle, which it considers itself to be a part of.” He said the missile barrages were intensifying and that Iranian proxy militia has sent thousands of its troops into Syria to fight rebel forces.

The British Daily Telegraph has also published a report confirming that Hizbullah is launching rocket attacks into Syria. The report quoted a Lebanese resident of the border town of al-Qaa who said: “They are concentrating on hitting the villages where the Free Syrian Army are, to weaken them before launching a ground attack. I have seen the rockets firing; they pass over your head.

There was an eyewitness account by a Telegraph reporter: “Driving across the Hermel plains of the northern Bekaa, 10 miles from the frontier with Syria, The Daily Telegraph could hear the sound of rocket fire. The salvoes came in waves – the dull thuds of the launchers shattering the stillness of the night air as they released their loads. Half an hour later, the tempo quickened to a near constant onslaught, filling the valley with the sounds of warfare until the early hours of the morning.”

Local residents said the attacks began six weeks ago.

France: Iran seems on track for nukes by mid-2013 – Israel News, Ynetnews.

FM Laurent Fabius says that experts established that Tehran has compiled full array of centrifuges

Associated Press

France’s foreign minister says Iran appears on track to reach the ability to produce a nuclear weapon by the first half of next year.

France is one of six countries that have negotiated with Tehran over its nuclear program, which Iran insists is peaceful.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Europe-1 radio Sunday that unspecified experts “have established in an absolutely indisputable way” that Iran has compiled a full array of centrifuges that “apparently will allow the ability to go toward possession of the nuclear weapon by the first half of next year, the end of the first half.” He did not elaborate.

Western nations fear Iran may turn its uranium enrichment program toward making weapons, a growing concern as Tehran expands the number of machines it uses to enrich uranium.

Sen. Graham: ‘Time for talking is over’ with Iran – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday slammed President Obama’s policy towards Iran, saying the “time for talking is over” after reports suggested that Washington and Tehran had reached an agreement on continuing nuclear talks.

“We should be demanding transparency and access to their nuclear program,” Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Fox News Sunday.

Graham said sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program have “been a miserable failure” and had failed to prevent Iran from continuing to enrich uranium.

He called the reportsthat administration officials and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks on Tehran’s nuclear program as just a “ploy by the Iranians” to stall action against its nuclear program.

The White House on Saturday denied those reports, with National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor saying that the White House remained open to such one-on-one talks.

“We continue to work … on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally,” Vietor said in a statement.

Graham said that the Iranians were using the upcoming presidential election for their own policy advantage.  “I think it’s pretty obvious they’re trying to continue dialogue using our election cycle in a pretty clever way,” he said.

“There’s a pattern here: We talk, they enrich, Graham said. “It needs to stop. We need to have red lines coordinated with Israel and end this before it gets out of hand.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), also appearing on Fox News Sunday, defended the president’s policy, arguing that the sanctions regime imposed on Iran by the U.S. and other countries is working.

“There’s unrest in the streets of Tehran and the leaders in Iran are feeling it, Durbin said. “That’s exactly what we want the sanctions program to do.”

He said The New York Times report about the one-on-one talks with Iran is “a clear indication that the sanctions regime that President Obama has put together with Israel and many other nations across the world is putting pressure on Iran to sit down and acknowledge that they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” calling it “a positive step forward.”

Graham and Durbin also sparred on the show about the Obama administration’s handling of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that resulted in the death of four Americans.

Graham hammered the Obama administration for not beefing up the security of the consulate in Benghazi or closing it after the violence in the region grew, calling it a “death trap long in the making.”

“I am totally convinced this is going to go down in history as one of the most major breakdowns of national security in a very long time,” Graham said.

The South Carolina Republican also lambasted the administration for initially saying an anti-Islam Web video incited the attack on the consulate.

“This was not a spontaneous riot. There never was a mob,” he said. “It was a seven hour planned attack.”

Durbin said the intelligence community initially told administration officials that “they believed [the attack] had something to do with this video but they were going to gather” more evidence to be sure.

“We aim to have a thorough investigation, get to the bottom of it, and as the president said, hold those accountable who did it,” Durbin said.

The Illinois senator also criticized Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for releasing more than 100 pages of documents detailing the embassy’s requests for more security, saying Issa was putting the lives of Libyans who are helping the U.S. at risk. The report includes the names of many Libyans who have aided the U.S. in that volatile country.

Durbin slammed it as “an effort to get a political toehold in this election” and called it “unacceptable.”

Israel Disaster Drills Prepare Nation For War | Orange UK.

Israel is conducting mass casualty drills to train the nation for a national disaster which focuses on responding to an earthquake but which military officials admitted was also a rehearsal for how to respond to war.

Mired in conflict since before its birth in 1948, Israel’s first ever national disaster drill envisages 7,000 dead, 70,000 casualties and 170,000 made homeless as a consequence of an earthquake along the Rift Valley fault.

However, Brigadier General Mickey Tessler of Israel’s military Home Front Command told Army Radio: “It is very important to emphasise that whoever is ready for earthquakes perforce increases his readiness level for various events, including wartime events.”

A conflict with Iran looms largest in the Israeli mind at the moment. It may be triggered by a unilateral strike against Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme. It would be certain to provoke a counter-attack from Iran directly using long-range ballistic missiles and through its Lebanese surrogate, Hizbollah.

The latter is believed to have a new arsenal of missiles capable of reaching every major population centre in the Jewish state.

The quake drill also coincides with the largest ever joint US-Israeli military exercise, Austere Challenge 2012, which has seen 3,500 US troops arrive in the country.

On Sunday, Israel’s public was asked to evacuate buildings and schools at 11am local time and similar drills ordered by text message, on TV announcements and with sirens are part of the exercise’s night-time programme.

Children across the country also participate, carrying out enactments of the drills in schools.

While many Israeli buildings have safe shelters built into them, the advice during the current exercise is for people to find open outdoor spaces due to a recent assessment by the Home Front Command that around 70% of buildings in the coastal areas – which house just under half of Israel’s population – do not meet the earthquake resistance standards set in 1980.

Meanwhile, the joint US-Israeli Austere 12 exercise will see soldiers from both countries deployed in numerous locations, including near civilian areas.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Force has warned that the public may notice increased military activity and some roads may be closed for short periods of time.

Much of the operation will focus on testing the defences against attacks from the air.

Missile protection systems such as the David’s Sling and the Iron Dome batteries will be tested as well as Israel’s medium range Patriot and Arrow2 missiles.

However, it is thought only a small amount of live fire will be used, with the majority of scenarios using computer simulation.

The timing of the joint operation follows a slight diminishing of the war rhetoric emanating from the Israeli prime minister’s office.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Benjamin Netanyahu indicated the window in which to prevent Iran progressing its nuclear programme towards a weapon stretched into next year – a timescale widely perceived as an extension on previous comments by Mr Netanyahu.

The Austere 12 operation was originally due to take place two months ago, but was postponed. Both Israel and US spokesmen deny this was due to the prospect of an imminent strike on Iran.

In third debate, will Romney offer the clarity on Iran that Israel has sought from Obama? | The Times of Israel.

Analysis: The challenger has yet to set out a clear vision that differentiates him from the president on the most immediate, significant threat to Israel and world security: a nuclear-armed Iran

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, left, and US President Barack Obama wave to the audience before the first presidential debate at the University of Denver earlier this month (photo credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of the past two months calling President Barack Obama to task over his lack of clarity and “trust me” attitude (at least from the Israeli perspective) on Iran.

True, Obama has said repeatedly that Iran must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that the prospect of a nuclear Iran would be taken with utmost seriousness in a second Obama term.

“I very much appreciate the president’s position, as does everyone in my country,” Netanyahu told the United Nations last month.

But Israel’s fear is not that Obama doesn’t comprehend the danger — the possibility of Iran using the bomb if it gets one, its capacity to remake the regional balance of power, a Middle East nuclear arms race, a potential nuclear-armed Hezbollah… — but that Washington is too wary of war and too trusting in imperfect intelligence to act before it’s too late.

Obama will not order a military strike on Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu hinted at the UN, until Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb, and then actually begins construction on that bomb. For its part, the administration has said that US intelligence agencies will detect that construction work in time to stop it militarily.

This was exactly the view expressed by Vice President Joe Biden at the vice-presidential debate on October 11, when he told moderator Martha Raddatz that “both the Israelis and we will know if [the Iranians] start the process of building a weapon.”

But American and Israeli intelligence agencies are nowhere near that good, Netanyahu pointed out. “For over two years, our intelligence agencies didn’t know that Iran was building a huge nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain” near the Iranian city of Qom. Indeed, they didn’t know Libya had a nuclear program until Muammar Gaddafi came clean, or that Syria was building a reactor until shortly before Israel bombed it.

The Obama-Netanyahu face-off, made public by Netanyahu, has led many angry Democrats to accuse Israel’s prime minister of meddling in the American elections. Israeli officials, meanwhile, say Netanyahu spoke out only because the American administration would not heed his concerns when they were made in private.

“They think they’re big and we’re small, so what worries us doesn’t have to worry them,” a senior Israeli official said of the US administration in a conversation with the Times of Israel this week. “And they don’t feel they have to change their policy just because we’re worried,” added the official, who is familiar with Israel’s intelligence and plans on Iran.

There are hints that Netanyahu’s publicity stunts have worked. The White House seems to be taking more seriously Netanyahu’s concerns about imperfect intelligence and the timing for preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon. For one thing, Netanyahu’s public campaign on the issue seems to have abated. For another, insiders suggested Obama and Netanyahu have spoken a great deal in recent weeks, and Israeli and American intelligence officials have begun to reexamine and deepen coordination on the issue.

Enter Mr. Romney

Well over 100,000 US voters are thought to live in Israel, many of them voting absentee in battleground states such as Florida. And many more Americans, Jews and Christians alike, see their voting choice as influenced at least partly by their belief in an American foreign policy that supports Israel’s security.

Perhaps for this reason, Romney has positioned himself as a close political ally of Netanyahu. He made a show of speaking aggressively about Iran while visiting Israel in July, and has vowed to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring not only nuclear weapons, but even a “nuclear weapons capability.”

Many observers have taken “capability” to mean something similar to what Netanyahu is calling for, suggesting Romney plans to stop Iran before it has enriched enough uranium to build a bomb.

But unlike Netanyahu and Obama, Romney has not said clearly what “capability” might mean or where he would draw the red line.

It is not enough to offer bravado and harsh rhetoric, Israeli officials say privately, or to ask Israelis for their trust when it comes to their national survival. America’s record is too checkered for a small nation such as Israel to trust its fate to election-season promises. Just ask Kurdish survivors of Saddam’s 1992 assaults what they think of American leadership and promises.

Since he raised the issue as a point of distinction between himself and the president, many Israelis feel Romney owes them, and those voters he is trying to court on the basis of his Israel policies, the same clarity and specificity Netanyahu has demanded from Obama.

If Israelis could ask a question in Monday’s presidential debate — the final debate, focused on foreign policy —  it might be: Will a Romney administration follow in Obama’s footsteps in asking Israelis to relinquish control of their fate and trust their very survival to the accuracy of American intelligence and the reliability of Washington politics? Or will he go beyond campaign bluster to offer a clear, specific alternative for dealing with the world’s most immediate and profound security threat?

IRGC chief: Strike possibility on Iran is zero – Trend.Az.

21 October 2012, 14:03 (GMT+05:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.21/ Trend /D.Khatinoglu/

It is impossible to strike on Iran, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari said.

According to ISNA report, Jafari said on Sunday that regarding enemies’ situations, the possibility of a military operation against Iran is zero, that’s why the enemies started economic war against Tehran.

He said that IRGC is completely ready for defending the country against any invasion.

Talking about Syria’s crisis, Jafari said that enemies’ attempt to destroy Bashar al-Assad’s regime has failed.

IRGC chief’s statement about impossibility of a strike on Iran appeared, when he said on Sep.22 that Israel will eventually go beyond threats and will attack Iran.

The statement was criticized by some Iranian authorities.

Iran is the major ally for the Syrian government which reportedly committed violence against opposition and people, which has left 30, 000 dead.

Earlier, Jafari said that some Iranian Quds forces, an elite branch of IRGC, are in Syria to help Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

During a press conference in Tehran Jafari said on Sep.16 that “everybody knows that IRGC has a special force, namely Quds, to export Islamic revolution and help Muslim communities in the world.

He said that some Quds members are in Syria, but it does not mean that we have military presence there.

Quds elite force is a branch of IRGC, tasked with exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution occurred in 1979 and responsible for IRGC extraterritorial operations.

Jafari said that Iran renders financial, counseling and mental health assistance to Syria, rather than military.

In response to a question whether Iran will react to foreign military strike on Syira regarding a security agreement between Tehran and Damascus, Jafari said that this depends on conditions and circumstances.

IRGC chief commander called Syria as frontier of resistance against “Zionist regime”, Iran’s major fatal enemy, saying Israel has reached to deadlock.

Netanyahu, Dichter emphasize lessons of … JPost – National News.

( Like I said, earthquake drill my ass…! – JW )

Photo: GPO

Home Front Command holds national earthquake drill – Israel News, Ynetnews.

( Earthquake drill?  My ass… This is prep for a nuclear attack.  Read the numbers below. – JW )

First nationwide earthquake exercise to simulate 5.0-7.0-magnitutde tremors, tsunami warning. Home Front Command to interrupt media broadcasts, alert public to ‘national disaster situation’

Yoav Zitun

  The Home Front Command held a nationwide earthquake drillSunday, as part of its annual emergency drill, “Turning Point 6.”

The drill, which is the first of its kind in Israel, will simulate several strong earthquakes, ranging 5.0-7.0 in magnitude, in northern and southern Israel, as well as aftershocks. Additional disaster scenarios include a tsunami warning and a subsequent flood.The ministry said as many as 170,000 people could be displaced, 28,000 buildings are expected to sustain severe damage, 29,000 building will suffer mediocre damage and hundreds of thousands of other structures will suffer light damage.

The drill is supervised by the Home Front Defense Ministry. As part of the exercise, the Home Front Command will alert the public of a “national disaster situation” via television and radio broadcasts.

The alerts were broadcast on Israel Radio and Army Radio, as well as on channels 1, 2, 10, 9 and 23.

The drill also saw the Home Front Command use its SMS alert system, which is supposed to send residents of the affected areas text messages alerting them to the situation and providing further instructions.

Magen David Adom emergency services tested their new internal alert system as well, which is meant to alert all emergency personnel – paramedics, EMTs and doctors – of a nationwide emergency.

Rescue drill (Photo: Yaron Brener)

The Home Front Command’s earthquake directives are as follows:

• If possible, get out of buildings and closed areas immediately.
• If you are unable to get outside and the space includes a fortified room, go there but keep the door open.
• If the space does not include a fortified room, go to the stairwell.
• If you are outside, stay outside and try to get as far away as possible from any building or power lines.
• If you are in a car, stop driving and remain in the car. Avoid stopping near bridges or overpasses.

Dozens of cities took take part in the drill. The military used a lot in Holon – a large city in central Israel – to simulate the collapse of a building as a result of the quake and the subsequent mass-casualty event.

Over the next few days the Home Front Command will hold several mass-casualty event drills in various cities nationwide.

Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter said that, “The last time we had a major earthquake was in 1927. This 80-year gap has put us in a disadvantage, according to experts.

“We can’t prevent an earthquake from happening, so our goal is to stop a disaster from turning into a catastrophe.”

Learn from others’ experience

Police Operations Directorate Commander Nisim Mor told Ynet that the preparations for the complex, multi-disciplinary drill have been taking place since the beginning of the year.

Thousands of police officers, soldiers and Border Guard officers took part in the exercise, which also simulated the destruction of roads and infrastructure.

PM Netanyahu, Minister Dichter at the drill (Photo: GPO)

“Experience worldwide has shown that time, especially the first few days, are critical in such cases,” he said.

“We know that there will be a problem deploying forces and that the point of the exercise is to drill how we can overcome a chaotic situation.”

The drill, he added, is focused on earthquakes and natural disasters, but “The lessons learned are sure to be very useful in cases of an attack on the home front.”

According to the Home Front Defense Ministry’s national disaster steering committee data, a 7.0-magnitude quake may result in as many as 7,000 fatalities, 8,500 serious casualties, 37,000 mild casualties and 9,500 people who may find themselves trapped in collapsed buildings.