israel summons US Chairman of Joint Chiefs to Tel-Aviv to explain himself
Or perhaps he was summoned to personally receive instructions for the upcoming war against Iran ...
Mullen with Ashkenazi on Monday morning (Photo: AP)
Defense Minister Barak meets with US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mullen to discuss contested American intelligence report vindicating Iran. Mullen met earlier with Israel's military brass who briefed him on various topics. 'Sometimes friends disagree,' said Mullen of bitter differences of opinion between Israel, US on Iran's nuclear program following NIE report
Published: 12.10.07, 18:12 / Israel News
The United States' top military commander met with Israel's defense minister and armed forces chief on Monday in the wake of a US intelligence report that Iran has suspended its attempt to build nuclear weapons.
The Israeli Defense Ministry said Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Adm. Mike Mullen discussed "a range of regional security issues."
"The discussion was centered on the mutual challenge that Israel and the United States, indeed the entire Middle East, face right now, and the shared recognition that there remains a potential for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and to threaten its neighbors," Mullen's spokesman, Captain John Kirby, said.
Mullen's one-day visit to Israel was the first in a decade by a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US armed forces. It came as Israel and the administration of US President George. W. Bush sought to keep up the push for tougher sanctions against Iran, despite the publication of the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) last week. The report said Iran's nuclear weapons program had been on hold since 2003 though its uranium enrichment facilities might produce enough fissile material for bombs in the next decade.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticized the report on Sunday and said Israel stood by its own intelligence assessment that Iran could be just two years away from having enough highly enriched uranium to make warheads for its long-range missiles.
The Pentagon has played down the NIE findings.
"It's important to remember that the NIE was an independent assessment," Kirby said. "He (Mullen) also is mindful that the report made it clear that Iran did have a nuclear weapons program (and) that they are still enriching uranium."
Kirby described Mullen's discussions with the Israelis as "productive and candid" but declined to give further details.
Mullen told them to fuck off and he'll be hearing from Mossad by the end of the week.
Barak's office said in a statement that he and Mullen had gone over a range of regional issues including a joint Israeli-US effort to develop a multi-tier missile defense system.
Earlier in the day Mullen met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi at the IDF's central base in Tel Aviv. The two discussed Israel's various security threats, including the situation with Iran.
Mullen was briefed by various IDF commanders, including the army's chief of intelligence, air force commander and Israel's future military attaché to Washington.
"Sometimes friends disagree," said Kirby of the differences of opinion between Israel and the US over Iran's agenda.
israel doesn't mind if the US disagrees - as long as we do what they want, which is why Mullen was summoned to israel and why George W. Bush will follow.
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Thanks, Susan
Could somebody please enlighten the Israelis with the important information that "Joint Chiefs of Staff" does not mean that the US military is held jointly by the US and Israel, but that is has something to do with the different branches of the US defense!
Israel has no business summoning the US Chairman of its Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is responsible to the US Constitution and nothing and nobody else. Bush may in practice report to Olmert directly or through Dick Cheney, but that does not change the situation for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This latest happening is as close as it gets to a formal "Declaration of Dependence", and in order for the world to know where it stands it really should ask the US for a Declaration of Independence from Israel within the next 72 hours. Failing that the diplomatic recognition of the US should be withdrawn and with that the diplomatic immunity of US representatives. We do not need them, and in case that there are important US matters to discuss we can do it directly with the Israeli ambassador. As the Americans themselves love to say: Cut out the middle man.
America: You're a goner!
"The discussion was centered on the mutual challenge that Israel and the United States, indeed the entire Middle East, face right now, and the shared recognition that there remains a potential for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and to threaten its neighbors," Mullen's spokesman, Captain John Kirby, said.
LOL! "mutual challenges"??? LOL!
Using this line of discussion on the part of Israel it is connivance… but what is it on the part of America?? Stupidity or extreme stupidity? The only reason that the US has “allies” among Arab states now is that none of the Arab countries want to be drawn into the negative effects of a war between the US, Israel and Iran. The Gulf states have US troops stationed in their countries and know that they will be targeted and are basically scared shitless . They are dreaming that neither the US or Iran will draw them into the conflict… but like I said, they are dreaming and their economies have already started suffering of this coming war. The “moderate” Arabs likewise are supposedly allies (silent allies) of the US… but they definitely do not wish to see any other war in the Middle East. The only reason they remain “allies” of the US is their fear that their position would be worse were they to chose to move into the “enemy” camp. ARAB STATES ARE NOT ALLIES OF THE US BECAUSE THEY LIKE OR SUPPORT ITS POLICIES. THEY ALSO ARE MOST DEFINITELY NOT ALLIES OF ISRAEL… WHATEVER ISRAEL WRITES IN ITS MEDIA IN ORDER TO BE AN AGENT PROVOCATEUR IN THE ARAB WORLD. Arab countries will never ally with Israel. There will never be such a thing as a US, Israeli and Arab alliance as Mullen or his counterparts in Israel are implying. The Arab world’s enemy is Israel and not Iran. Egypt, the most “moderate” of “moderates” successfully passed a resolution last year in the UN which Israel is furious about because it calls for a Middle East free of Nuclear weapons and Israel knows that this resolution is targeted towards it… and not towards Iran. Iran like Egypt is a signitory to the NPT.. Israel is not. Israel and the Zionist lobby like to build and aura of Arab support of US Zionist policies in the Middle East..., but that is Hollywood fiction for those who don't know the Middle East and who don't realize how Israel has alienated the US from all its allies.
Truth Seeker--Another reason to vote for Ron Paul, he will stop all foreign aid and military alliances with them remember the USS LIBERTY!!!
What the hell, our own Joint COS going to Israel to explain itself.
How pathetic.
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"Hey you, Whitehouse. Ha ha,.. charade you are" Pigs/Animals/Pink Floyd