[Ninong]

Adm. William Fallon, our new CENTCOM commander, when asked about Iran during his Senate confirmation hearings, had this to say:

“They are posturing themselves with the capability to attempt to deny us the ability to operate in this vicinity.”

Pay close attention to the phrase "operate in this vicinity." I think that means we're about to go regional.

[Ninong]

We don't have the troops or the equipment for any sort of land invasion at the present time. In fact, we're sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq WITHOUT the proper equipment. And, according to this report by the Defense Dept's Office of the Inspector General that was just released a few days ago, our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are still NOT receiving the equipment they need to perform their mission in spite of the controls that were set up by CENTCOM and the Army to address this problem. The Inspector General's report says that those controls are woefully inadequate.

The Bush Administration has now been fighting this war in Iraq longer than we were involved in World War II and yet we still can't supply our troops with the equipment necessary to perform the mission. Under a Democratic Administration, this country somehow managed to build tens of thousands of tanks, planes and ships in a matter of two or three years but we can't even build enough up-armored Humvees for Iraq in four years.

From that IG report:

"…. Based on responses from approximately 1,100 Service members, they experienced shortages of force-protection equipment, such as up-armored vehicles, electronic countermeasure devices, crew-served weapons, and communications equipment. As a result, Service members were not always equipped to effectively complete their missions….

The Request for Forces process did not always ensure that Service members who performed missions that they do not traditionally perform – such as training, provincial reconstruction, detainee operations, and explosive ordinance disposal – received the equipment necessary to perform their wartime mission. As a result, Service members performed missions without the proper equipment, used informal procedures to obtain equipment and sustainment support, and canceled or postponed missions while waiting to receive equipment….

The U.S. Central Command's and the Army's internal controls were not adequate…."

[schrocat]

But...but...but...if Bush does in fact attack Iran, he will be attacked by the press for his "wag the dog" escapde to divert attention from the looming impeachment of Spiro Agnew Dick Cheney.

Dude. Bush will not push that domino.

It's just too easy to point out (as you have) that the troops already there are not equiped to do the job. Nothing is gained by adding more unequiped personnel.

Even a FoxNews Hound can see that forest.

I would also note that the "Iranian Commandos attacked us" story from yesterday was pushed off the front page by Biden's "Mr. Clean" comments and a Cartoon Network ad campaign for "Teen Hunger Force" involving sinister signage resembling a "lite-brite".

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

Dude. Bush will not push that domino.

Sure he will. The situation is getting worse by the day in Iraq. He knows there is no possibility of a military solution there and he knows the Republicans in the Senate are about to turn against him. He has, at best, another four or five months before he will be forced by the American people and the Congress to pull out of Iraq.

The only way to turn around public opinion, and with it Congressional sentiment, is to expand the conflict by taking on another Axis of Evil member.

I would also note that the "Iranian Commandos attacked us" story

They had to be trained by the Iranians because the operation was so well carried out. None of the Iraqis that we have trained would have been able to carry out such a complicated mission on their own without our own embedded advisers.

Don't you just love that argument? We're admitting that the Iraqis are incapable of doing anything on their own and we're admitting that we haven't been able to properly train them to do anything on their own.

It was obviously an inside job but it could have been an Iraqi inside job. I don't believe anything I read in the American press anymore about Iraq, especially if it came from the Administration or the U.S. military. Just look at the conflicting reports out of Somalia or, more appropriately, the reports of our recent "victory" in Najaf, where the Iraqi forces -- with our support -- supposedly killed more than 250 of "the enemy" and injured another 210 or so. The "enemy" in this case was supposedly a rival Shia group intent on assassinating some of the clerics in one of the Shia groups we support.

That's not the way it's being reported in the Arab press. In fact, even the leading Baghdad newspaper has an entirely different take on what really happened. I have come across three entirely different explanations for what actually took place. The only thing they all have in common is that the casualties (they call it a massacre) were caused by U.S. 500-lb bombs and rockets. The nature of "the enemy" and the exact cause of the initial incident are disputed.

Juan Cole is reporting at least four different versions of what actually happened at Najaf. It might be better to scroll down to his Monday, Jan.29th entry and then read back up from there if you don't want to get lost in all of the conflicting versions. When rival Sunni and Shia newspapers in Baghdad both accuse us of lying about it, you have to begin to wonder if maybe we are lying about it.

from yesterday was pushed off the front page by Biden's "Mr. Clean" comments and a Cartoon Network ad campaign for "Teen Hunger Force" involving sinister signage resembling a "lite-brite".

Why did they think those things were a bomb of some sort? Oh, well, at least we got to see Wolf Blitzer squirm about reporting a story involving his corporate bosses. Only Anderson Cooper called them morons (or words to that effect) for pulling such a stupid stunt. I always enjoy stories that put Ted Turner or Donald Trump in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Of course, in Trump's case, he doesn't care, as long as they spell his name right and don't mention his hair.

[Ninong]

The semi-official Fox News Channel is now reporting that Iraqi generals at the highest levels of command were involved in the killing of our troops in Karbala.

Two Senior Iraqi Generals Eyed in Brazen Attack on U.S. Soldiers

Two senior Iraqi generals are being questioned in connection with last week's attack in Karbala that left five U.S. soldiers dead, Pentagon officials told FOX News Thursday.

Military officials also said the level of sophistication of the attack — where militants posed as U.S. soldiers to pass a number of security checkpoints — suggested possible Iranian involvement.

The assault was carried out by nine to 12 militants wearing new U.S. military fatigues and traveling in black GMC Suburban vehicles — the type used by U.S. government convoys. U.S. officials said the imposters had American weapons and spoke English.

The raid, as explained by Iraqi and American officials, began after nightfall at about 6 p.m. on Jan. 20, while American military officers were meeting with their Iraqi counterparts on the main floor of the Provisional Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) in Karbala.

The Pentagon said the investigation into the attack is ongoing and several Iraqis have been detained for questioning.

Because high-level generals were possibly involved, the Pentagon said, it raises questions about the loyalty and trustworthiness of Iraqi military officers at the highest levels.

P.S. -- Notice that "Pentagon officials" gave Fox News an exclusive on this and that Fox is still reporting a "possible involvement" of Iranians due to the "level of sophistication" of the attack. If the Iranians were involved, then it was Badr Militia and not al-Sadr's Mahdi Army Militia.

If Iraqi generals were involved, the question then becomes "why?" What were they trying to accomplish? Approximately 95% of U.S. casualties are the result of action by Sunni insurgents, not Shia militias. I guess we will have to find out whether the two "senior Iraqi generals" are Sunni or Shia and, if Shia, which militia they are affiliated with. Every major political party in Iraq is affiliated with one of the militias. And there are more militias besides the two main ones, Badr and Mahdi. However, it is more likely that both of these generals are Sunni.

[schrocat]

Where one sees well trained commandos...I merely see 2 utterly compromised Iraqi controlled checkpoints.

I'm just not buying the benchmark for sophistication.

A. Getting by 2 Iraqi checkpoints that know your coming and wave you through..???

B. Surrounding a building whose occupants have no idea you are coming ???

[Ninong]

Here is a typical Arab perspective on what happened at Najaf.

There are at least four different versions of what happened. The least likely to be true is the "official" version. We know from experience, that the "official" version is usually nothing more than propaganda. Look at how the U.S. military and the Bush Administration (and Nouri al-Maliki himself) threatened to sanction U.S. news organizations who reported "false" reports of people being killed and burned in front of that mosque and insisted that the Iraqi officer that AP claimed as their source didn't exist, only to have it later come to light that the reports were true, the officer does exist but he is now in an Iraqi Interior Ministry basement somewhere being waterboarded.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

Where one sees well trained commandos...I merely see 2 utterly compromised Iraqi controlled checkpoints.

I'm just not buying the benchmark for sophistication.

A. Getting by 2 Iraqi checkpoints that know your coming and wave you through..???

B. Surrounding a building whose occupants have no idea you are coming ???

I think the "benchmark" comment is probably a reference to the fact that they wore American uniforms, drove American vehicles and at least some of them spoke English. Perhaps the two Iraqi checkpoints had been compromised but it is just as likely that they were fooled by the uniforms, vehicles and language skills of the infiltrators.

P.S. -- When I was in Monterey last week, I couldn't help but notice that the DLI (Defense Language Institute) is desperately seeking more native-speaking instructors in Arabic and Farsi. If you speak Arabic or Farsi and you can pass a security clearance, you're in.

[Ninong]

A "senior Pentagon official" told the AP a few days ago that almost any incident could spark a war with Iran. None of these comments are unplanned. They are obviously preparing us for the inevitable attack. They're just looking for their "Gulf of Tonkin" incident. He also said that the JCS was involved in "branches and sequels" planning for an Iran operation.

A second military official, although unfamiliar with these latest scenarios, said there is a difference between contingency planning -- which he described as "what if, then what" planning -- and "branches and sequels," which takes place after an initial plan has been decided upon.

It seems obvious that the JCS has accepted the inevitability of an Iran option just as they finally accepted the fact that their unanimous recommendations against an escalation of troops in Iraq weren't going anywhere with the Bush Administration.

[Ninong]

Just like a Congressman, Fox has evidently reserved the right to "revise and extend" their remarks. Their original story on the Karbala incident has been revised and extended to provide a few more details and deserves another look. The link I posted previously takes you to the new edition of the article but here it is anyway:

(P.S. -- This is beginning to look like it was an inside Iraqi job. I have a sneaky suspicion Mahmood "Mad Dog" Ahmadinejad had nothing to do with it. Looking on the bright side, I guess it means our training of the Iraqi forces was better than previously thought. The Administration was quick to point out that the complex planning and precise execution of this raid proved that it had to have been carried out by Iranian-trained forces. There was no way in the opinion of our own military experts that American-trained Iraqis could have pulled off this stunt.

What it they were American-trained after all? Does that mean we must now attack ourselves instead of Iran?)


Several Iraqis have been detained for questioning in the ongoing investigation of at least two senior Iraqi generals suspected of involvement in an insurgent attack that killed five American soldiers on Jan. 20, U.S. officials told FOX News on Thursday.

The attack occurred at a provincial government security compound in Karbala where the Americans were meeting with local Iraqi security officers. Gunmen stormed the facility dressed like American soldiers and driving SUVs, military officials in Iraq said.

The Pentagon has called this a sophisticated and troubling assault and much more orchestrated than the usual attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces. Because of that, military officials say they have strong suspicions that the Iranian government or elements of it may have been involved. Four of the five American soldiers were abducted before being shot execution style.

The raid, which began after nightfall at about 6 p.m. local time, was carried out by nine to 12 militants wearing new U.S. military fatigues and traveling in black GMC Suburban vehicles — the type used by U.S. government convoys. U.S. officials said the imposters had American weapons and spoke English.

The bodies of four of the five U.S. soldiers killed in the attack were found later miles away from the compound suggesting they may have briefly been kidnapped before they died.

The military said two of the soldiers were handcuffed together in the back seat of an SUV near the southern Iraqi town of Mahawil. A third dead soldier was on the ground nearby and a fourth died en route to the hospital.

"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

"The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound," he said. "We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault."

This is the first reported time that gunmen have apparently been able to pass themselves off as American soldiers to carry out an attack.

At least one of the Iraqi generals under suspicion for involvement or having advance word of the attack is said to be an intelligence officer, according to U.S. officials. If that's proven to be the case, the involvement of Iraqi generals in an attack on American forces raises questions about the loyalty and trustworthiness of Iraqi military officers at the highest levels.

Those concerns would be compounded if it's determined that Iran had a hand in the attack.

Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican, 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz, Capt. Brian S. Freeman, Pfc. Shawn P. Falter and Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism died in the attack.

[Ninong]

...the casus belli report on Iranian involvement in Iraq has been delayed according to this article in today's LA Times.

And the new nominee to take Negroponte's place as Director of National Intelligence testified before a Congressional committee that there will be "no cherry-picking of intelligence" on his watch.

What's it all about, Alfie? It means the bureaucrats in the State Department, the CIA and the DIA are not finished "cooking" the report yet. It's not soup yet. Either that or they actually are resisting the Administration's attempts to cherry-pick intel. Take your pick.

[schrocat]

Originally Posted by Ninong

I think the "benchmark" comment is probably a reference to the fact that they wore American uniforms, drove American vehicles and at least some of them spoke English. Perhaps the two Iraqi checkpoints had been compromised but it is just as likely that they were fooled by the uniforms, vehicles and language skills of the infiltrators.

Dunno, I mean...I can't think of a better CYA story than the one they gave.

Are you saying it's "a slam dunk" Iran did it?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

Are you saying it's "a slam dunk" Iran did it?

Speaking of slam dunks, have you been following the Scooter Libby trial? They played the audio tape of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage telling Bob Woodward that then Director of the CIA, George Tenet, actually did ask the White House to remove the infamous 16 words about Niger from the president's State of the Union speech but he was overruled by the White House!!!!!

What's so amazing about that is that Tenet took the hit for it afterwards, saying that he should have caught it. He did catch it, just as he caught it in the October 2002 Ohio speech, but this time he was overruled by Dick Cheney. Bush awarded Tenet the Medal of Freedom soon after he resigned from the CIA. The ceremony took place on the same day that the Senate released a scathing report on the lousy job he had done at the CIA.

The Scooter Libby trial reinforces the notion that Cheney really is the president and Bush is just a figurehead. I'm amazed that Libby's defense is that everybody in the White House leaked the information on Plame's CIA connection and that everybody in the White House, including the president and the vice president, were fully aware of what was going on. Keith Olberman has been playing video clips of all the famous lies spouted by Bush, Cheney, Ari Fleisher and Scott McClellan.

We now know that Armitage told Bob Woodward that Plame worked for the CIA, Ari Fleisher told reporters that Plame worked for the CIA, Karl Rove told reporters that Plame worked for the CIA, Cheney told Libby that Plame worked for the CIA, and Libby told Judy Miller that Plame worked for the CIA, etc. And it was Dick Cheney, not George W. Bush, who declassified the NIE on Iraq and instructed Libby to reveal that discredited section to the press. Cheney in on tape since then as stating that he has been authorized by the president to declassify documents on his own -- he has that authority, he claims, because it was given to him by the president. And the section of the NIE that Cheney wanted the press to know about was false and it was known to be false at the time Cheney put it out!!! Just as Cheney repeated the bogus claims about mobile biological weapons labs for more than a year after those claims had been discredited.

So all of the claims by Bush that he had no idea what was going on were outright lies! Both Ari Fleisher and later Scott McClellan are on tape repeating the administration's lies. In Fleisher's case there is no doubt that he was lying because he knew what was going on. Maybe McClellan was clueless but I sort of doubt it now. He, too, was probably lying through his teeth. (P.S. -- I forget to mention that Ari Fleisher asked for and received immunity from prosecution from Patrick Fitzgerald in exchange for his truthful testimony against others in the Bush Administration.)

To summarize Libby's defense, he's claiming that everyone else was more guilty than he was when it came to revealing Plame's identify and that he is only guilty of having a lousy memory when he testified before the grand jury. Of course, Fitzgerald didn't charge him with leaking, he charged him with lying. So all the testimony about who leaked, to whom and when, is fascinating but irrelevant to the charges at hand.

It's a slam dunk that Libby is guilty of lying. Let's see if the jury convicts him. I have a feeling they will but then again I had a feeling O.J. would be convicted, too.

P.S. -- And returning to the subject of Iran: It wouldn't surprise me to see resignations among the chiefs of staff, especially the chairman, if Bush orders an attack on Iran. They all think he has lost his mind!

[Ninong]

Dick Cheney will NOT be testifying in the Scooter Libby trial!

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Neither Vice President Dick Cheney nor Lewis "Scooter" Libby will testify in Libby's perjury trial, the defense announced in court Tuesday. (Posted 2:48 p.m.)

P.S. -- I always suspected that neither Scooter nor the Shooter would ever take the stand. Patrick Fitzgerald would have crucified them. They would have been forced to acknowledge all of their previous lies or run the risk of perjury.

[RHINO13]

Your prediction dates are coming up fast Ninong.

What do you mean it will probally be over in 3 or 4 nights? The bombings?
What do you think will take place after these 3 or 4 nights?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by RHINO13

Your prediction dates are coming up fast Ninong.

What do you mean it will probally be over in 3 or 4 nights? The bombings?
What do you think will take place after these 3 or 4 nights?

There is a better chance now that it won't happen at all. That's due to the fact the the professional military at the highest levels is dead set against it. It is quite possible than half a dozen or more four-star generals would resign in protest if Bush ordered an attack on Iran.

The current working plan calls for an air campaign against fifty or sixty targets (not just nuclear facilities but military installations, too) over a period of three or four nights. And, given a choice, we would always initiate an air campaign on a moonless night. Once all forces are in position, it could be activated with as little as 24 hours notice from the president. As far as I know, all forces are now in position.

As far as the timing is concerned, I based that on the fact that Bush would probably want to do this before Tony Blair steps down. It now appears that Blair will stay in office until August. I previously thought he would be gone sometime in May.

Right now the Bush Administration is trying to provoke something with Iran but that may not work. The other complication is caused by the fact that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the Chairman, are very much opposed to attacking Iran. Their opposition is reality-based, something Bush doesn't usually take into consideration when making his plans for war.

There is a wildcard option here that I don't give much credence to but it's an outside possibility. And that would be for Israel to attack Iran with munitions provided by us. I don't think you can take out muclear facilities that are under 60-90 feet of reinforced concrete with anything less than nuclear-tipped bunker busters, which we have and which we have probably made available to Israel.

[Ninong]

I guess we're about to find out just how much of a loose cannon Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really is. This idiot can't possibly be this stupid!?!

LONDON - Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf as part of efforts to protect the Iraqi coastline and its oil terminals, U.S. and British officials said.

The British government summoned the Iranian ambassador in London and demanded “the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.” The U.S. Navy in Bahrain, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.

The British Navy personnel were “engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters,” and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels, Britain’s Defense Ministry said.

[SPasse]

Hi Al,

An interesting story that I ran across, make sense in the context of this thread.

“SILENCE IN SYRIA, PANIC IN IRAN Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler Wednesday, 19 September 2007

One of India's top ranking generals assigned to liaise with the Iranian military recently returned to New Delhi from several days in Tehran - in a state of complete amazement.

"Everyone in the government and military can only talk of one thing," he reports. "No matter who I talked to, all they could do was ask me, over and over again, 'Do you think the Americans will attack us?' 'When will the Americans attack us?' 'Will the Americans attack us in a joint operation with the Israelis?' How massive will the attack be?' on and on, endlessly. The Iranians are in a state of total panic."

And that was before September 6. Since then, it's panic-squared in Tehran. The mullahs are freaking out in fear. Why? Because of the silence in Syria.

On September 6, Israeli Air Force F-15 and F-16s conducted a devastating attack on targets deep inside Syria near the city of Dayr az-Zawr. Israel's military censors have muzzled the Israeli media, enforcing an extraordinary silence about the identity of the targets. Massive speculation in the world press has followed, such as Brett Stephens' Osirak II? in yesterday's (9/18) Wall St. Journal.

Stephens and most everyone else have missed the real story. It is not Israel's silence that "speaks volumes" as he claims, but Syria's. Why would the Syrian government be so tight-lipped about an act of war perpetrated on their soil?

The first half of the answer lies in this story that appeared in the Israeli media last month (8/13): Syria's Antiaircraft System Most Advanced In World. Syria has gone on a profligate buying spree, spending vast sums on Russian systems, "considered the cutting edge in aircraft interception technology."

Syria now "possesses the most crowded antiaircraft system in the world," with "more than 200 antiaircraft batteries of different types," some of which are so new that they have been installed in Syria "before being introduced into Russian operation service."

While you're digesting that, take a look at the map of Syria:

Notice how far away Dayr az-Zawr is from Israel. An F15/16 attack there is not a tiptoe across the border, but a deep, deep penetration of Syrian airspace. And guess what happened with the Russian super-hyper-sophisticated cutting edge antiaircraft missile batteries when that penetration took place on September 6th.

Nothing.

El blanko. Silence. The systems didn't even light up, gave no indication whatever of any detection of enemy aircraft invading Syrian airspace, zip, zero, nada. The Israelis (with a little techie assistance from us) blinded the Russkie antiaircraft systems so completely the Syrians didn't even know they were blinded.

Now you see why the Syrians have been scared speechless. They thought they were protected - at enormous expense - only to discover they are defenseless. As in naked.

Thus the Great Iranian Freak-Out - for this means Iran is just as nakedly defenseless as Syria. I can tell you that there are a lot of folks in the Kirya (IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv) and the Pentagon right now who are really enjoying the mullahs' predicament. Let's face it: scaring the terror masters in Tehran out of their wits is fun.

It's so much fun, in fact, that an attack destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and the Revolutionary Guard command/control centers has been delayed, so that France (under new management) can get in on the fun too.

On Sunday (9/16), Sarkozy's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner announced that "France should prepare for the possibility of war over Iran's nuclear program."

All of this has caused Tehran to respond with maniacal threats. On Monday (9/17), a government website proclaim ed that "600 Shihab-3 missiles" will be fired at targets in Israel in response to an attack upon Iran by the US/Israel. This was followed by Iranian deputy air force chief Gen. Mohammad Alavi announcing today (9/19) that "we will attack their (Israeli) territory with our fighter bombers as a response to any attack."

A sure sign of panic is to make a threat that everyone knows is a bluff. So our, and Tel Aviv's response to Iranian bluster is a thank-you-for-sharing yawn and a laugh. Few things rattle the mullahs' cages more than a yawn and a laugh.

Yet no matter how much fun this sport with the mullahs is, it is also deadly serious. The pressure build-up on Iran is getting enormous. Something is going to blow and soon. The hope is that the blow-up will be internal, that the regime will implode from within.

But make no mistake: an all-out full regime take-out air assault upon Iran is coming if that hope doesn't materialize within the next 60 to 90 days. The Se pt. 6 attack on Syria was the shot across Iran's bow.

So - what was attacked near Dayr az-Zawr? It's possible it was North Korean "nuclear material" recently shipped to Syria, i.e., stuff to make radioactively "dirty" warheads, but nothing to make a real nuke with as the Norks don't have real nukes (see Why North Korea's Nuke Test Is Such Good News, October 2006).

Another possibility is it was to take out a stockpile of long-range Zilzal surface-to-surface missiles recently shipped from Iran for an attack on Israel.

A third is it was a hit on the stockpile of Saddam's chemical/bio weapons snuck out of Iraq and into Syria for safekeeping before the US invasion of April 2003.

But the identity of the target is not the story - for the primary point of the attack was not to destroy that target. It was to shut down Syria's Russian air defense system during the attack. Doing so made the attack an incredible success.

Syria is shamed and silent. Iran is freaking out in panic.”

Regards,

Scott

[Ninong]

Scott,

Let's see, how many different versions have I read about this September 6th Israeli incursion into Syria so far?

There's the one about Israel asking the White House for permission to bomb a Syrian nuclear weapons facility that was being set up with the assistance of North Korean nuclear experts. According to that rumor, the White House demanded proof first and Israel sent a special ops team to the site deep inside Syria to retrieve some samples that were then used to convince the White House that the Syrians were indeed getting nuclear material from North Korea. The White House then gave the green light to Israel to bomb the facility. According to that rumor, North Koreans were killed in the raid as well as Syrians. The raid was a complete success, the planes were not detected by Syria's state-of-the-art Russian anti-aircraft system and all returned safely to Israel.

Then there's the rumor that it was not a nuclear facility that was bombed but rather a storage facility that had just received a shipment of long-range (medium-range?) missiles from North Korea. This is similar to the above version except that it involves a transfer of missiles from North Korea rather than nuclear technology and fissionable material. This one might be more believable in that North Korea's nuclear capabilities have never been demonstrated. If I'm not mistaken, virtually all of their nuclear weapons tests have been miserable failures. It's still possible that the North Koreans were transferring fissionable material.

Yesterday, Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa said Israel was trying to restore its damaged image following its 'defeat' by Hezbollah last year. He made that comment at a joint press conference in Damascus yesterday that he held with his bestest buddy in the whole world, Iraq's Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Earlier this month, we said that the North Koreans had personnel in Syria assisting with Syria's nuclear program. Syria and North Korea both denied the reports and accused US officials of spreading the allegations for political reasons.

Syria has said only that warplanes entered its airspace, came under fire from anti-aircraft defenses and dropped munitions and fuel tanks to lighten their loads while they fled.

“The size of these (media) leaks along with the fabrications they carry is striking,“ Al-Sharaa said at a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

“They (the Western and Israeli media) are inventing things to justify a future aggression“ against Syria, he concluded.

He described reports of North Koreans killed in the alleged raid as ’nonsense’.

I suspect that the Israelis carried out an airstrike against a target in Syria. It may have been successful. It probably met little or no resistance. The target might have been North Korean missiles, or perhaps North Korean nuclear technology and/or nuclear material, or maybe even bio-weapons?


__________________________________________________

"Is our children learning?" -- George W. Bush, Jan. 11, 2000.

"Childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." -- George W. Bush, Sept. 26, 2007.