Emanuel A. Winston
Middle East Analyst & Commentator
It has been reported on TV and in U.S. DEFENSE NEWS that several U.S. Aircraft Carrier Task Forces have been sent to position themselves off the coast of Iran in the Gulf of Hormuz.
I wondered: What was their mission? I also wondered about the practice take-off and landing sessions of U.S. and French aircraft on each other’s aircraft carriers. It sounds like a good idea if their likely targets are nuclear sites in Iran. BUT, what if it wasn’t? What if their alternate mission was to protect Iran from a pre-emptive or retaliatory strike by Israel on those Iranian nuclear sites?
What if their plan is as Zbigniew Brzezinski counseled President Barack Hussein Obama – to shoot down Israeli aircraft in order to insure that Iran reaches full maturity in its nuclear capability?
Do Obama and his advisors wish to see Iran and Syria achieve hegemony and dominate the entire Middle East because Obama finds it easier to deal with dictators? Now we come to the issue “TRUST”, honoring one’s word comes into play.
How can we forget the deliberate betrayal of Israel when, during Desert Storm, the First Gulf War January 16, 1991 to March, Saddam Hussein launched 39 SCUD missiles at Israel, hitting mostly Tel Aviv. Then Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was prepared to order Israeli pilots sitting warmed up on the tarmac (runways) ready to find and kill the SCUD missile launchers.
“The Patriot anti-missile missiles of that day hit the motors of the incoming SCUDS.Their shrapnel and explosives hit residential areas [in Israel]. Israeli pilots, trained to fly at deck level could have found and hit those SCUDs and maybe could have saved the 28 American soldiers who were killed when their barracks in Saudi Arabia was hit by a Saddam SCUD.” (1)
BUT, President George Herbert Walker Bush, his Secretary of State James Baker, Secretary of Defense Colin Powell and Chief of Staff Norman Schwarzkopf assured Shamir that America would send out U.S. aircraft to eliminate the launchers.
The reason given to Israel is that by Israel entering the war, it could break up the Arab Muslim coalition against Saddam.
However, Bush and group lied. They never issued those orders for U.S. strikes on Saddam’s launchers – a fact which was later confirmed by the U.S. GAO (General Accounting Office). Bush and his advisors were artfully protecting Iraq, based upon the philosophy that Saddam would be helpful in fighting Iran.
Perhaps so, but, they were willing to sacrifice Israel to Saddam’s SCUDs which could have been loaded with Chemical and Biological agents.
[Proof from the scene: At 3:59 am in Israel on January 16, 1991 after Saddam’s first SCUD attack, former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger said in a BBC radio interview: “It’s a particular tragedy that Nerve Gas was used.” He would know that Saddam had Nerve Gas. Israelis spent Desert Storm in sealed rooms with gas masks and protective baby tents because the American Administration knew Saddam had Nerve Gas.] (1)
Allowing Israel to take the SCUD hits was acceptable in the Americans’ plans – then and perhaps by Obama now.
When Bush and group succeeded in getting Syria to join a fake coalition, Syria was paid off in several ways. First, Syria arrived to the U.S.-led coalition mobilization Headquarters without arms and with no intentions of actually joining the U.S. in fighting Saddam. Syrians were stationed well away from the actual fighting.
For this great sacrifice on Syria’s part, the U.S. arranged a safe air corridor for Iraq’s aircraft (a mix of approximately 75 Russian fighters and cargo aircraft) to be shipped to Iran – who didn’t have the necessary Russian maintenance facilities and, therefore, had no use for the beneficent gift.
However, the planes were disassembled, crated and then shipped to Syria. Payment to Saddam for this strange transfer came in several Billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – paid to Iraq so Iraq could buy armaments from the U.S. and other international arms’ dealers. Saddam had used up his credit line in the arms market and desperately needed a cash infusion – which was why he attacked Kuwait in the first place where he stole $80 Billion in liquid assets.
One should ask James Baker, III and the others about this ‘little’ Kuwaiti hustle. After all, it was he who would ostensibly have ordered America’s Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie to give Saddam the “green light” by having her tell Saddam: “We’re not interested in your border disputes.”
Getting back to the matter of today’s mission for several (possibly four) U.S. aircraft carriers sitting off the coast of Iran, let us speculate on a few scenarios.
Israel has several missile capable submarines tasked as a backup threat to Iran if Ahmadinejad should use a Nuclear Weapon on Israel. Are they to be tracked and targeted by U.S. destroyers lest they launch their missiles at Iran?
The question remains: Why would Obama and his advisor wish to protect Iran and Syria? (Note! The American people and most of Congress consider Israel to be a valuable and loyal ally. But, certain Arabists in Washington act in concert with hostile Muslim Arab nations, both for oil and because of their deep-seated animus against the Jewish State.)
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Saudis are so fearful of a nuclear-armed Iran that they will allow Israeli aircraft to use Saudi airspace to bomb Iran. Sounds good going in but, how good is the Saudis’ word to allow returning Israeli aircraft to refuel in the air or on the ground on their return and not to launch the very large Saudi (American-supplied) Air Force against the returning Israeli aircraft? After all, the Israeli’s would have done their good deed by (hopefully) eliminating all of Iran’s Nuclear R&D facilities. So would they still be needed?
Let’s remember the Good Deed Israel did by destroying the Osirik Nuclear Reactor in Iraq, an act which was condemned by the U.S., E.U., U.N. and Arab/Muslim bloc nations but, was celebrated in the Congressional cloak room and the very happy Saudis (all in secret).
Would Israel have to guarantee the safety of both its air re-fueling cargo planes and returning Israeli aircraft by having a sizable squadron of F-16s and F-15s flying near the Riyadh and Tobruk Air Bases in case the Saudis broke their agreement, no doubt, at the urging of the Arabist State Department?
The matter of trust and confidence building is based upon prior experience and words kept (or NOT kept). Israel has been lied to by both friends and dedicated enemies who rarely keep agreements when their interests have become mired in their vested self-interest and not in their integrity.
I have offered the reader my speculations in part, of what may be a Future War. Israel remains a small, even minuscule nation which could (G-d forbid) be snuffed out by enemies and supposed friends, anxious to pacify Israel’s enemies.
“Trust” can be a very expensive commodity when you can possibly disappear in a puff of smoke!
President Obama has demonstrated a decidedly pro-Muslim attitude and a hostility toward Israel never before seen by Israel or the American Congress. Both Houses of Congress have signed letters recognizing Obama’s hostility toward Israel and stating plainly that they view Israel as America’s staunch and valuable ally. Obama seems not to share the opinion of his Congress as he reaches out to Iran, Syria and other Islamic nations.
As is said: “ 'Trust' but verify.”
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1. “Feelings From A Sealed Room in a Gas Mask” by Gail Winston JEWISH PRESS Jan. 25, 1991
2. “Ordered To Die Quietly” by Emanuel A. Winston MACCABEAN ONLINE from Freeman Center for Strategic Studies April 2003
Emanuel A. Winston is the Freeman Center's Middle East analyst. He has published over 3500 articles and given hundreds of radio and television interviews and has been a major supporter of Israeli institutions of higher learning for over two decades. He is a valued and prolific contributor to JewishIndy.
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