[Peace-discuss] Fw: Chossudovsky: The Integration of US-Israeli Command Structures/ Iran

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Depressing and hopeless. 

--- On Fri, 1/6/12, David Johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net> wrote:THE WAR ON IRAN: The Deployment of Thousands of US Troops to 
Israel, The Integration of US-Israeli Command Structures By Michel 
Chossudovsky
4 January, 2012 — Global 
Research
The Islamic Republic of Iran has 
been threatened with military action by the US and its allies for the last eight 
years.
Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian 
Gulf.  The US Navy is deployed. Iran’s naval 
exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is 
patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the 
Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran’s Central 
Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran’s 
currency.
Reacting to US threats, Iran declared that it would 
consider blocking the shipment of oil through the Strait of 
Hormuz:
 ”Roughly 40 percent of the world’s oil tanker 
shipments transit the strait daily, carrying 15.5 million barrels of Saudi, 
Iraqi, Iranian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari and United Arab Emirates crude oil, 
leading the United States Energy Information Administration to label the Strait 
of Hormuz “the world’s most important oil chokepoint.” (John C.K. 
Daly, War Imminent in 
Strait of Hormuz? $200 a Barrel Oil? Global Research, January 3, 
2012)
The Globalization of War and the Demise of the American 
Republic
There is a symbiotic relationship between War and the 
Economic Crisis.
The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at 
the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to 
widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large 
sectors of the world population.
Crushing social movements on the domestic front 
–including all forms of resistance to America’s military agenda and its 
neoliberal economic policies– is an integral part of the United States’ 
hegemonic role Worldwide. 
Does Constitutional Government in the eyes of the Obama 
Administration constitute an encroachment to “The Globalization of 
War”?
History tells us that an Empire cannot be built on the 
political foundations of a Republic.
In this regard, it should come as no surprise that the 
new Iran sanctions regime adopted by the US Congress became law on New 
Year’s Eve, December 31st, on the same day Obama signed into law the National 
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2012), which suspends civil liberties and allows 
for the “Indefinite Detention of Americans”. (See Michel 
Chossudovsky,  The 
Inauguration of Police State USA 2012. Obama Signs the “National Defense 
Authorization Act “, Global 
Research,  January 1, 2012)
The Obama administration is intent upon crushing both 
social dissent as well as antiwar protest. The American Republic is incompatible 
with America’s “long war”. What is required is the instatement of a “democratic 
dictatorship”, a de facto military rule in civilian 
cloths.
Thousands of Troops to 
Israel
Advanced war preparations are ongoing. Barely mentioned 
by the Western media, although confirmed by Israeli press 
reports, the Pentagon is preparing to send 
several thousand US troops to Israel.
In the context of ongoing war preparations, these troops 
are slated to participate in joint US-Israeli military maneuvers in Spring 2012, 
described by the Jerusalem 
Post as “the largest-ever missile defense exercise in [Israel's] 
history.” (emphasis 
added) 
Last week [11-18 December], Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, 
commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to 
finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to 
see the deployment of several 
thousand American soldiers in Israel. (US commander visits 
Israel to finalize missile… Jerusalem Post December 21, 2011 emphasis 
added)
These war games involve the testing of Israel’s air 
defense system, which is now fully integrated into the US global missile 
detection system, following the installation (December 2008) of a new 
sophisticated X-band early warning radar system. (See http://www.defense.gov/news/, December 30, 2011, .See also Sen. Joseph 
Azzolina, Protecting Israel 
from Iran’s missiles, Bayshore News, 
December 26, 2008).
The US global missile detection system includes 
satellites, Aegis ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea as well 
as land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In the context of planning the 
US-Israel Spring war games:
“The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude 
Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to 
simulate the interception of missile salvos against 
Israel.
The American systems will work in conjunction with 
Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron 
Dome.
Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron 
Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense 
Division.
He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and 
the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation 
exercises.
The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the 
Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the 
possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located 
there.
The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to 
manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF 
operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries 
along Israel’s northern and southern borders.
The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy 
Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend 
against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a 
series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s 
interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by 
mid-2012. US commander visits 
Israel to finalize missile… Jerusalem Post December 21, 
2011)
Integrated US-NATO-Israel Command 
Structures
Pursuant to these joint US-Israel games, there are 
indications that the US is also planning to increase the number of American 
troops stationed in Israel.  
Moreover, these military exercises planned for next 
Spring are accompanied by a fundamental shift in US-NATO-Israel command 
structures.
What is now unfolding at Washington’s behest is an 
integration of US-Israel military command structures.
Washington is not a reluctant partner, as some observers 
have suggested, “with the Obama administration attempting to distance 
itself”  from an Israeli sponsored war on Iran. Quite the 
opposite!
Given the integration of Israel’s air defense system into 
that of the US, Israel cannot, under 
any circumstances, wage a war on Iran without the 
US. Moreover, since mid-2005, 
following the signing of a protacol between NATO and Tel Aviv, Israel has become 
a de facto member of the Atlantic Alliance. 
The Pentagon calls the shots. The planned deployment of 
US troops in Israel is part and parcel of  a US sponsored 
war.
In the context of the Spring 2012 military drills, the 
United States military will establish Command Posts in Israel. In turn, Israel’s 
IDF will establish Command Posts at United States European Command headquarters 
(EUCOM), in Stuttgart, Germany. 
(Ibid).
The ultimate objective of these command posts is to 
establish “joint [US-Israeli] task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict 
in the Middle East”, (Ibid). In other words, these task forces will be involved 
in planning the deployment of troops and weapons systems directed against Iran, 
with Israel playing an important role as a launchpad for military action. 
  
What these developments suggest is that the war on 
Iran –which has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon since 
2003– will involve the direct participation of Israel under a unified 
US military command. 
The people of Israel are the unspoken victims of  
America’s global military agenda as well their own government’s war plans 
directed against Iran.  
They are led to believe that Iran possesses nuclear 
weapons when in fact Israel possesses an advanced nuclear arsenal, which is 
directed against Iran.
The people of Israel as well as Western public opinion, 
more generally, are also led to believe that Iran’s president Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad wants “to Wipe Israel off the Map”, when in fact this statement 
was concocted by the Western media, as a means of demonizing the Iranian head of 
state as well as presenting Iran as a threat to the security of 
Israel: 
“Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that 
could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran‘s President has 
threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, “Israel must be 
wiped off the map”. Contrary to popular belief, this statement 
was never made”
(See Arash Norouzi, Israel: “Wiped off 
The Map”. The Rumor of the Century, Fabricated by the US Media to Justify An All 
out War on Iran,  Global 
Research, January 20, 2007)
Who wants to “wipe Israel off the Map”? Tehran or 
Washington? Ahmadinejad or Obama?
In actual fact, the Obama administration as well as the 
Netanyahu government indelibly constitute a threat to the people of 
Israel.
Tehran has since 2005 warned that it will retaliate if 
attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes directed against Israel as 
well as against US military facilities in the Persian Gulf, which would 
immediately lead us into a scenario of military 
escalation.
This war would engulf a region extending from the 
Mediterranean to the heartland of Central Asia. It would have devastating 
consequences, resulting in a massive loss of life.
It would precipitate humanity into a World War III 
scenario.
Global Research Articles by Michel 
Chossudovsky

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