Gates: No blank check from US to Israel on Iran

BRUTAL PRESSURE

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Former US defense secretary says Israel must not harm US interests, warns strike against Iran would be “catastrophic.”

Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated on Thursday that Washington must make it clear to Israeli leaders that the US must not permit Israel to harm American interests.

Speaking at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, Gates commented that the Israeli leaders must be aware they “do not have a blank check to take action that could do grave harm to American vital interests.”

Instead, Gates called for heavier sanctions on Iran, saying the “results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could, in my view, prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world.”

He added sanctions are “our best chance going forward, to ratchet up the economic pressure and diplomatic isolation to the point where the Iranian leadership concludes that it actually hurts Iranian security and, above all, the security of the regime itself, to continue to pursue nuclear weapons.”

Gates also warned that neither Israel nor the US has the capabilities to obliterate Iran’s atom program, and that a military operation against the country’s nuclear facilities “would make a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable.”

He inferred that any attack would see Iran merely “bury the program deeper and make it more covert.”

Gates’ comments follow his criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last month, where the newly retired defense secretary called him an ungrateful ally and blamed him for diplomatically isolating Israel and hurting American interests, as Bloomberg revealed.

The criticism, reported in a piece by Jeffrey Goldberg, apparently peaked after Netanyahu met with US President Barack Obama last May, lecturing him in front of the cameras on the Israeli security situation with a level of “impudence” that shocked many in the White House, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

October 5, 2012 | 68 Comments »

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50 Comments / 68 Comments

  1. @ Bernard Ross:

    I think that the only people who observe the Geneva Conventions are Israel and the Jews. The GC are especially ignored by everyone when impacting Israel and the Jews. Does this make the Jews smart or moral? All those smart, moral and dead Jews. I think that everyone else who came to play the game find it amusing that only the Jews follow the rules. How can they resist repeating the same winning plays against the Jews. Some say that insanity is to keep repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. Laws not applied to all should be ignored.

    Well we still torture Arab suspected terrorists and actual terrorist caught before and after the fact. We have killed ( some say murdered) Egyptian and Syrian Pow’s in 48, 67 and 73. Then the leftist American moralists began influencing our leftists and things began to change for the worst. Contrary to Israeli PR spin, in our last major skirmish in Gaza our kids layed on massive firepower and shot at anything that moved. That’s why the only Israeli casualties were almost none except a few of our own killed and wounded by friendly fire. The lessons of Lebanon were internalized and applied to the situation.

  2. @ Laura:
    @ SHmuel HaLevi:

    Shmuelly: Not to worry. We have G-d himself on our side, hence there is nothing to worry about. He will look after us as he always has. All is well, there is absolutely no danger. You can remain cool and loose.

  3. yamit82 Said:

    The British were quite effective. They even liquidated whole Arab villages when they thought it necessary and served their purposes as a deterrence.

    I think that the only people who observe the Geneva Conventions are Israel and the Jews. The GC are especially ignored by everyone when impacting Israel and the Jews. Does this make the Jews smart or moral? All those smart, moral and dead Jews. I think that everyone else who came to play the game find it amusing that only the Jews follow the rules. How can they resist repeating the same winning plays against the Jews. Some say that insanity is to keep repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. Laws not applied to all should be ignored.

  4. @ Bernard Ross:

    apparently this Ali Mohamed was in many attacks and repeatedly connected with US authorities. does the same with the Jihdis surrounding Israel.

    Sometimes it does others not. That’s why every terrorist and their handlers and even family supporters must be killed before or after interrogation. The British were quite effective. They even liquidated whole Arab villages when they thought it necessary and served their purposes as a deterrence.

  5. @ yamit82:
    I read your links and they confirm what I have been writing regarding the US jihadi alliances since the 1970’s at least. This is why I believe that there was never any hiatus in that relationship. The current relationship in libya and syria echo the past. The more info one gets the more it appears that the WTC was a set up. the link re al queda bosnia, etc was also very interesting. Did you notice the info surrounding Ali Mohamed who kept reappearing in various operations including the assassination of Kahane(probably another set up). I keep saying that the US wants the MB in charge of various countries which tells me there are deals set up.

    Ali Mohamed trained al-Kifah recruits in guerrilla tactics near Brooklyn. This operation was considered so sensitive that the New York police and the FBI later protected two of the recruits from arrest, when they murdered the Jewish extremist Meir Kahane. Instead, the New York Police called the third assassin (El Sayyid Nosair) a “lone deranged gunman,” and released the other two (Mahmoud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh) from detention. This enabled Abouhalima and Salameh, along with another Ali Mohamed trainee (Nidal Ayyad) to take part three years later in the first (1993) bombing of the World Trade Center.60

    apparently this Ali Mohamed was in many attacks and repeatedly connected with US authorities. does the same with the Jihdis surrounding Israel.

  6. @ yamit82:I read your links and they confirm what I have been writing regarding the US jihadi alliances since the 1970’s at least. This is why I believe that there was never any hiatus in that relationship. The current relationship in libya and syria echo the past. Also there is confirmation of the parallel drug trade links. The more info one gets the more it appears that the WTC was a set up. the link re al queda bosnia, etc was also very interesting. Did you notice the info
    surrounding Ali Mohamed who kept reappearing in various operations including the assasination of Kahane(probably antoher set up). I keep saying that the US wants the MB in charge of various countries which tells me there are deals set up.

    Ali Mohamed trained al-Kifah recruits in guerrilla tactics near Brooklyn. This operation was considered so sensitive that the New York police and the FBI later protected two of the recruits from arrest, when they murdered the Jewish extremist Meir Kahane. Instead, the New York Police called the third assassin (El Sayyid Nosair) a “lone deranged gunman,” and released the other two (Mahmoud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh) from detention. This enabled Abouhalima and Salameh, along with another Ali Mohamed trainee (Nidal Ayyad) to take part three years later in the first (1993) bombing of the World Trade Center.60

    apparently this Ali Mohamed was in many attacks and repeatedly connected with US authorities. does the same with the Jihdis surrounding Israel.

  7. @ steven l:

    Afghanistan, the CIA, and the Taliban by Phil Gasper

    A TIMELINE OF OIL AND VIOLENCE

    AFGHANISTAN

    Upon taking office, the Bush administration immediately engaged in active negotiations with Taliban representatives (27) with meetings in Washington, DC, Berlin, and Islamabad. During this time the Taliban government hired Laila Helms, niece of former CIA director Richard Helms (28), as their go-between in negotiations with the US government.

    Bush (oil) administration (29) includes:

    Dick Cheney, VP: Until 2000 – President of Halliburton (in position to build the Afghan pipeline).
    Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor: 1991-2000 – Manager of Chevron Oil, and Kazakhstan go-between.
    Donald Evans, Sec. Commerce: former CEO, Tom Brown, Inc. (a $1.2 billion oil company).
    Gale Norton, Sec. Interior: former national chairwoman of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates – funded by, among others, BP Amoco.
    Spencer Abraham, Sec. Energy: Up through his failed bid for senatorial reelection in the 2000, he received more oil and gas industry money than all but three other senators (January 1997 through July 2000) (30).
    Thomas White, Secretary of the Army: former Vice Chairman of Enron and a large shareholder of that company’s stock.

  8. @ steven l:

    Did American forces really leave Iraq?

    No, they were replaced by the largest mercenary private Army in the world formally know as “Blackwater”-

    Blackwater exists as a mercenary force. Blackwater’s rise is a consequence of the demobilisation of the US military following the Cold War and its overextension in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blackwater serves in Iraq and Afghanistan like, a Praetorian Guard, protecting top authority figures and enjoying immunity from the usual constraints and regulations on traditional armies. Blackwater’s leadership was motivated by a right-wing Republican ideology, and that its founder, Erik Prince, has provided significant assistance in that venue. Blackwater is also present in some parts of Pakistan.

    Videos Show Blackwater in Iraq Running Over Woman, Firing into Traffic

  9. b>@ steven l:
    There is no real left right divide in America it’s a diversionary distraction to cover what the power elites are really up to.


    Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team

    The US-Al Qaeda Alliance: Bosnia, Kosovo and Now Libya. Washington’s On-Going Collusion with Terrorists

    by Prof. Peter Dale Scott

    Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending were foreseen: first after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But both times military spending soon increased, and among the factors contributing to the increase were America’s interventions in new areas: the Balkans in the 1990s, and Libya today.1 Hidden from public view in both cases was the extent to which al-Qaeda was a covert U.S. ally in both interventions, rather than its foe.

    U.S. interventions in the Balkans and then Libya were presented by the compliant U.S. and allied mainstream media as humanitarian. Indeed, some Washington interventionists may have sincerely believed this. But deeper motivations – from oil to geostrategic priorities – were also at work in both instances.

    In virtually all the wars since 1989, America and Islamist factions have been battling to determine who will control the heartlands of Eurasia in the post-Soviet era. In some countries – Somalia in 1993, Afghanistan in 2001 – the conflict has been straightforward, with each side using the other’s excesses as an excuse for intervention.

    But there have been other interventions in which Americans have used al-Qaeda as a resource to increase their influence, for example Azerbaijan in 1993. There a pro-Moscow president was ousted after large numbers of Arab and other foreign mujahedin veterans were secretly imported from Afghanistan, on an airline hastily organized by three former veterans of the CIA’s airline Air America. (The three, all once detailed from the Pentagon to the CIA, were Richard Secord, Harry Aderholt, and Ed Dearborn.)2 This was an ad hoc marriage of convenience: the mujahedin got to defend Muslims against Russian influence in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, while the Americans got a new president who opened up the oilfields of Baku to western oil companies.

    More to follow:

  10. @ Alan:
    What is mast appalling is the massive cohort of Jews supporting him fanatically!
    They could at least move to the center but that is out of question.

  11. @ yamit82:
    I rest my case: As long as the US is not energy independent, the US remains at the mercy of the ME whether we have a republican or a democrat in the WH.
    Until today the SD, the foreign office and the Quai d’ Orsay are in charge of the respective foreign policy of these 3 countries. They are all 3 100% ANTISEMITIC.
    All three are ME/North Africa dependent.
    China & India are in the same situation.

    At least Romney plan for Energy independence would be a step in the right direction. But then who knows, the SD may twist is arm in to changing his mind!!!!
    ME oil dependence must benefit some people in this country!!!

    I try not to repeat myself, but U force me to.

  12. @ yamit82:

    Will only comment on one part of your inane partisan dribble – then a closing comment…

    You mention Romney was a draft dodger. While I didn’t like the fact he was doing the Mormon missionary thing in France, and I still don’t like it, Clinton was much more deliberate, openly opposing our troops, but no complaints about him, huh? Even when he was busy bombing innocent Serbs instead of going after Bin Laden.

    And what about your boy, the little gutless Jew-hater who spent 20 years in Uncle Jeremiah’s church of Black Hitlerism. Frankly he lost my respect when he didn’t walk out the first time he heard a bigoted utterance from the Black Nazi. Yet despite his own deliberate draft dodging, I’m sure you’ll slur a Colonel Allen West who is a Republican and who served his country honorably.

    You’ll give Obama a pass and call him a C-in-C. You’re a typical hypocrite. Yeah, you won’t vote for him – big deal. Call out your friends, Yamit before you utter nonsense about Republicans unlike the Clinton who couldn’t defend Monica’s sorry ass, or Obama who defended Jeremiah’s Nazi ass.

  13. @ steven l

    Your argument essentials remind me of the anti -Bush pro Obama arguments. Bush was a disaster in every way and much of the lefts criticisms were not far from the mark even though most were based on narrow American partisan political positions.

    Those opposed to Bush outside of die hard brain incumbered Republicans got their wish in Obama. My position consistently was that McCain would have been close to a mirror of Bush and I think even Bush had more smarts than McCain. Who would have been worse McCain or Obama? Question today is mute and we'll never know but Americans then like today are not really given much of a choice as neither party or candidate has the answers to the problems facing America or the world.

    The big difference between Romney and Obama is that by now Obama is a known quantity insofar as his record in the past 4 years. Romney is still an unknown.

    Which mafia is preferable? Is there a difference between the Bonanno Family and the Gambino Family? Today's political versions of the mafia are the financial Institutions, Big corporations especially oil and defense contractors and foreign holders of American debt.

    As bad as Obama is– he is in my opinion not worse than Bush and to pin your hopes on Romney is in all probability misplaced. Romney is the shill of Wall st. and the too big to fail Banksters and too big to fail Corporate America who are backing him to the extent they are able under the law and probably then some… When I said he will install his Mormon Mafia? They too have vested interests and loyalties not necessarily and primarily to the United States of America and the majority of the American people. Think on another level Howard Hughes.

    Romney was (a legal Mormon missionary IN FRANCE) draft dodger and in MO unfit to be Commander in Chief. That said compared to Obama he looks like Snow White. I have said before that voting for the best of two bad choices is immoral and I won't vote.

  14. SHmuel HaLevi Said:

    Nothing has changed as far we can see.

    Why aren’t Israelis more vocal on this issue, if nothing has changed how will they avoid a debacle with a rearmed hezbullah and hamas? There is this image abroad that Israel is on top of everything, a superman. Perhaps the leadership want some casualties to get sympathy; they delayed the Yom Kippur war and took on casualties to avoid US retribution. Politicians appear to be low lives everywhere. I will say that I have been amazed at the extent of scandal that appears to embrace almost every political leader in Israel. This makes Israel vulnerable to blackmail and extortion.

  15. @ Bernard Ross:
    It gives me no pleasure having to deal with the miserable conditions.
    During the 2006 Lebanese War our city in the Galilee took 184 rocket hits, two of them close enough to us to be able to collect shrapnel which are in a plastic bag in front of my desk. We had no defense whatsoever. I saw only one military vehicle in town.
    The Municipality acted bravely and fast to set up the bomb shelters. Food kitchens where set up privately or through the Religious organizations.
    Otherwise no one else showed up to help.
    Nothing has changed as far we can see.

  16. SHmuel HaLevi Said:

    could have been easily been fitted with OTHER things rather than only cameras and electronics.

    these were my thoughts exactly. It is a message in that it show how any border can be breached and WMD delivered within half an hour, a number of these can be sent at one time across any of the borders and by 3rd non govt parties. They used jets to shoot it down, are jets to be sent for every drone, I thought they had missile defense systems. The DM and others keep boasting that Israel can take care of itself in any situation, this appears to seriously put doubt into that notion. Very disturbing.
    SHmuel HaLevi Said:

    others simply ignored even the evidence provided during the Second Lebanon war.

    I recently saw a poorly made “documentary” with a political agenda called “my first war” about some background in the rear lines. What struck me was the “theme” that appeared to color it a keystone cops operation, completely disorganized, where the command structure was reckless, clueless, dangerous to personnel and uncaring for troops safety followed by a cover up. Whats your take on it?

  17. @ yamit82:
    Um, no. If Gates is a “mole”, almost by definition, he would have wormed his way into important positions without his superiors being aware of where he was taking direction from. That’s the whole idea of being a “mole”, right?

    No question that Bush was heavily influenced by the Saudis. But Bush was also reportedly very aware of the Iranian nuke threat and wanted to do something about it.

    Dick Cheney – also very cozy with the Saudis – related in his memoirs “In my time”, that Gates told the Saudis while GWB was in office that a strike on Iran was “out of the question”, and he did this on his own hook, without authorization from himself (Cheney) or GWB. He was furious over this.

    It is common knowledge that the Saudis are wetting their pants over a prospective Iranian nuke as much or more than Israel, so this all adds up.

    I have also posted many times earlier in this venue that I believe Obama is a Saudi Manchurian Candidate, yet he also will do nothing about Iran. This is for other reasons in his case; the Saudis did too good a job “programming” Obama via his “mentors” – such as Khalid Al Mansour, Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said – to the point where he wants to screw Israel about all else, and needs a prospective nuclear Iran as leverage over Israel in order to accomplish this.

    Remember, the major German arms concerns, such as Krupp, backed Hitler, but did not want a war. They just wanted to re-arm Germany. Then, Hitler went “out of control”; I’ve seen German industrialists interviewed who said they backed Hitler because they thought they could “control” him. But once he had the levers of power, this became impossible. I see a similar dynamic with Obama in some respects, relative to his erstwhile “controllers”.

    I don’t see Gates being “brainwashed” into doing anything the way Obama apparently is. Obama is so obviously mediocre intellectually, and insecure, that he’s like an ideological cruise missile. Gates seems to know what he’s doing. That’s the difference. He seems to be acting on direction, whereas Obama strikes me as being more on “autopilot”.

    Such are my impressions. By and by, perhaps more will be revealed to us all as to the extent to which I’m right about all or any of this, if we live long enough to see it.

  18. @ yamit82:
    Right on Yamit!
    That drone evaded the purported defenses, prevented the vaunted Israeli cyber attempts to assume control of it, run all over and sent information back for a long time in operational terms and what is more, could have been easily been fitted with OTHER things rather than only cameras and electronics.
    Regretfully what I have been warning about for 6 years or more is clearly evidenced as days go by. We have been had by the unJews on control!
    Of course, other than our professional group, others simply ignored even the evidence provided during the Second Lebanon war.
    We, that is, what we believe are our defense force is a worthless pile or series of warehouses full of equipment NEVER used to defend our people, not in the North, never in the South nor anywhere else.
    The renegade cadres of Israeli generals are busy with stocks, hatred against JEWS expressed every day with attacks or are engaged on taking over political juicy postings. That with full support of the self elected courtiers.
    The military, police or “tzahal bet”, SHABAK command structures are putrid to the core just as the civilian government is regarding all that is related to long term Jewish Heritage safeguarding in Eretz Israel.
    The drone rampage could also have been a “message” from Barak and his controllers from the USA. This is far from being a remote possibility considering real evidence on that internal enemy.

  19. @ Vinnie:

    I have no documentary proof of this, but in my gut, I have no doubt whatever that Gates is an Iranian mole.

    Do you also believe that GW Bush who first appointed him to Defense is also an Iranian mole? I thought he was a Saudi mole.

  20. @ Bernard Ross:
    He works for the oil lobby which control the SD.
    As long as the US has no meaningful policy in place for energy independence, the pro-Muslim oilmen can blackmail the West and the Jews at will.
    It use to be that only the republicans were oilmen. Clinton (and probably many other democrats)has very good connections with SA.
    There is nothing wrong with that but neither side should hide the facts so Americans know where the leaders of the US stand.

  21. SHmuel HaLevi Said:

    The bombs must be removed by the US and it is incumbent to the Israeli government and US interested people to deal with that WITHOUT concessions of any type.

    Thanks for the very relevant info, I agree completely. these bombs in, or close to, the hands of the islamist govt of turkey are dangerous.

  22. @ Bernard Ross:

    Bernard I really don’t know who his selections might be. I’ve heard Frank Gaffney’s name being mentioned too, and he’d be a great choice. Elliott Abrams has been advising him too. Fran Townshend, who was Deputy Homeland Security chief under Bush advises him too, I believe, as does Condi Rice and George Shultz. Shultz is too old and probably not in good health for a comeback, but I’m sure you’ll see a lot of those who worked for Reagan and W – the good, competent ones on board.

    These names plus the ones I mentioned inspire confidence…and most are solidly pro-Israel. Contrast them with the retarded and anti-Semites of Team Obama.

    p.s. don’t be too surprised too, if another Romney adviser is Max Boot’s boss over at the WSJ, Bret Stephens.

  23. Alan Said:

    Romney doesn’t listen to him – he listens to John Bolton, Max Boot, Niall Ferguson and Dan Senor and that’s a good thing.

    Alan, thanks for the background info. Do you have any further info regarding Romney’s expected selections of advisers and Secretary of state and defense?

  24. @ Bernard Ross:
    The bombs were there during the Cold War but were listed, much as the British stock, to be removed back to the US. The British stock, I believe adding to 115 devices, was removed. There are other European facilities that also have those bombs.
    The ones in Turkey were re allocated to Turkey by Gates and Mr. Obama a couple of years back.
    The B 61 is the main gravity type nuclear bomb in the US arsenal and according to our information they are slated to be upgraded due to lack of electronic tubes which are part of the bombs radar and other sections. The ones in Turkey are latest rev level devices. -12 quite probably.
    The bombs are said to be “defused” while under storage, that means that the triggers are stored nearby. Nothing special on that as it is standard procedure for most major ordnance. Most any country can today replace those triggers in relatively short notice. The protocol is not complex.
    The bombs are fitted to be loaded into specially configured F-4’s originally and also F-15’s and some F-16 as well as the F-22 and F-35. The US has not assigned either of the last two aircraft to INCERLIK. Yet…
    Of course they can also be loaded into the B-1, B-52 and B-2 but those are not listed as part of the USAF aircraft at the TAFB.
    None of the assigned US or Turkish aircraft which include some British platforms, can reach Russia or Iran from INCIRLIK without a major logistic effort which could be easily stopped by Russia and even Iran to some extent.
    The bombs must be removed by the US and it is incumbent to the Israeli government and US interested people to deal with that WITHOUT concessions of any type.

  25. @ Canadian Otter:
    It has been sent by us to various US government principals and was vaguely mentioned on record in Congress if I am not in error.
    Not a word from MK’s or others.
    At that time Clapper did pop over both to Israel and Turkey.
    The information is generally available. You may search in Internet under Nuclear weapons in Turkey heading.
    Others mention that the US may attack Israel. I doubt that they would go that far, but not for a moment I doubt that the US will attack Israeli aircraft and defense systems to prevent an Israeli Iran nuclear program or other facilities attack.
    We certainly stand to be destroyed if the “administration” but it will mark the end of the US as well.
    There will be no more victims w/o recourse but I know that Islam, and the US is lead by one of those, will nevertheless do that.

  26. @ SHmuel HaLevi: This is scary and appears to be a much greater threat to Israel than Iran. Perhaps this is set up to counter Israels nuclear deterrence which was broght ito play, I believe in 73. Regardless of intents it is fraught with unintended possibilities of Turkey seizing the bombs in a spat with Israel or Nato of Turkey setting up a proxy as it did with the gaza flotilla,
    SHmuel HaLevi Said:

    None of the aircraft is capable to reach either Iran or Russia w/o interdiction or at least two re fueling contacts each way. The base is located 35 miles from the Med coast facing Israel…The aircraft at the TAFB can reach Israel in one short hop.

    Are you saying that the US aircraft there cannot reach Iran or Russia or the Turkish aircraft? When were these bombs put there, was it to the old Turkey and left in place(dangerously) or is it recent under Obama? I can imagine those like Kissinger, Gates, Brezinski installing this as a threat to Israel.

  27. @ SHmuel HaLevi:
    Thank you for informing us about this subject. Until recently I had no idea. The only place I’ve seen this mentioned at all is on your comments.

    This issue is extremely alarming but columnists and reporters – at least those in the English language Jewish media – are ignoring it. What about the MKs? Silent as usual too?

  28. @ Laura:Ladies and gentlemen,
    For close to a year we have been warning about Gates and Soetoro being involved, directly in the re allocation of 90 nuclear bombs, B 61 model, the most potent US nuclear arsenal strategic bombs TO Turkey, 90 nuclear bombs, not less….
    At the time of our initial research they were at the INCIRLIK TAFB, and also there are 5900 US airmen, technicians and aircraft able to deliver those bombs WITHIN the Mediterranean basin. Just as well, the Turkish AF has its military aircraft at that base. None of the aircraft is capable to reach either Iran or Russia w/o interdiction or at least two re fueling contacts each way.
    The base is located 35 miles from the Med coast facing Israel…
    The aircraft at the TAFB can reach Israel in one short hop.
    The subject is not a potential Iranian bomb in the making but a direct menace to destroy us all immediately.
    Not for a second I doubt that one or more of those bombs could be in one way or another “spirited” away to other locations…
    Those bombs are purportedly under US/NATO control but the Turks have already effected a base interdiction in the past and there are no US or other forces that could prevent that from happening any time the Turks decide. Or others prompt the Turks to do so…

    This is a critical National Security issue for us and the leadership here must act to remove that threat w/o “negotiations of any kind.
    The US must remove those bombs NOW!

  29. @ Andy Lewis:

    To me that sounds like a threat of military action against Israel. If Obama’s stooges say that now , what will happen if he’s reelected?

    I agree. It sounds like the administration would take the advice of zbignew brezezinski should Israel preemptively attempt to strike Iran.

  30. @ Laura:

    Laura, well said.

    Donald Rumsfeld was and is a patriot who actually put the surge in place before he left office. Sure, he made mistakes, but he was and always was for America, and a always too a Great friend of Israel’s – Bobby Gates is a pasty faced piece of crap whom was the media’s darling, but whom the generals and soldiers richly despised.

  31. Gates has always been an ass-kissing RINO, preferring power over principle and patriotism.

    He practically threw his dying boss, the venerated Bill Casey, under the bus during Iran-Contra. Since he was part of Bush Seniors pro-Arab, pro-Chinese “realist” cartel along with his buddies Baker and Scowcroft, Bush Senior tried to reward Gates with Casey’s old position of CIA director but Senators disgusted with his own behavior during the hearings made sure he’d never get that appointment. Instead, Bush made him Deputy National Security Adviser under Scowcroft. Together with Scowcroft and Baker, Gates crafted a foreign policy that even then rewarded adversaries of America, but allowed Chinese dissidents to be slaughtered and poked the eyes of Israel.

    He was thankfully gone for a long while, during the Clinton years (associated too much with Jime “F the Jews” Baker to be on board with Clinton) and in the best years of W’s administration (W having proven that he was a better man and friend of America’s friends than his daddy was), but when the Democrats took the House and the criticisms of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld forced him to go, Bush RELUCTANTLY hired him (he wasn’t his first choice, as his memoirs prove, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if daddy had a role – after all Gates was part of that Iraq Study Group along with his buddy Baker).

    Gates laid low during the remaining Bush years, and even John McBozo aka McCain said he’d bring him on if he had been elected. After all, Gates is the quintessent arselicker. But Obama won, and seeing how much Gates was a RINO with a spine made of jello when it came to forcefully dealing with the Islamic world (no different than fellow anti-semite RINOs like Baker and Scowcroft), knew the boy had his boy…and he was right. Honestly if Romney had reached out to Gates, I’d probably sit this election out. Thankfully he ignores that piece of crap who rubberstamped the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” no matter how his own commanders felt; who sat on his butt while Obama screwed General McChrystal, and who has no daylight between himself, Obama, and Mrs. Clinton in the anti-Israel (read: ANTI-SEMITISM) departments. Romney doesn’t listen to him – he listens to John Bolton, Max Boot, Niall Ferguson and Dan Senor and that’s a good thing.

  32. the US must not permit Israel to harm American interests.

    To me that sounds like a threat of military action against Israel. If Obama’s stooges say that now , what will happen if he’s reelected?

  33. Gates was also opposed to Israel taking out Assad’s reactor in Syria (according to a Weekly Standard article). (I think they’re panicked about Israel going it alone prior to Obama’s re-election. So, Gates wags his finger at Israel. Guess Gates figures Israel has no right to defend itself (and, particularly not prior to the messiah’s re-election.)

  34. It’s one thing for a U.S. government official to say we won’t bomb Iran, that its not in our national interests, but its quite another for them to dictate to Israel that it should back off of Iran. The Obama administration did not consult Israel when it aided the overthrow of Mubarak and installed the muslim brotherhood. Nor did it consult Israel when it bombed Libya. These actions certainly harmed the vital interests of Israel.

  35. Speaking at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, Gates commented that the Israeli leaders must be aware they “do not have a blank check to take action that could do grave harm to American vital interests.”

    For Israel, Iranian nukes aren’t simply about national interests, but the Jewish state’s very existence. I think that the lives of 6 million Israelis trump any perceived U.S. or western interests. Does Gates actually expect Israel to treat U.S. strategic interests above the very lives of its own citizens and the very physical existence of the country? If so, then Gates is evil.

    Instead, Gates called for heavier sanctions on Iran, saying the “results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could, in my view, prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world.”

    Does he not think that an Iran with nukes will prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world?

    Gates also warned that neither Israel nor the US has the capabilities to obliterate Iran’s atom program, and that a military operation against the country’s nuclear facilities “would make a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable.”

    A nuclear armed Iran is already inevitable, moron. A military operation may not obliterate the program but it could be set back years.

    What a contrast between this spineless little man and Donald Rumsfeld.

  36. I suspect Gates is speaking on behalf of Obama (and it’s not about American interests, but Obama’s re-election). (Obama has now manipulated the september job’s report numbers, in order to show a spectacular spike in employment — it’s due to Obama having lost the debate — this is a spectacularly corrupt, mendacious regime — there were predictions by financial analysts that Obama would order the falsification of the stats. Again, it is all about the pathological liar getting re-elected).

  37. Who is gates speaking for Obama or Romney. He worked for both parties administrations under Bush and Obama. Perhaps both parties will end up taking the smae line on Israel.

  38. I fear that Jewish leaders in the U.S. and Israel will allow Israel’s enemies in Washington to again betray Israel to her enemies. Obama, Gates and the others are enemies of Israel who constantly tie Israel’s hands while allowing Israel’s enemies freedom to attack. Jews must choose between the nations and Hashem. Every time we choose the nations we suffer.