Beasts of Burden

Be Sure You’re Right, Then Go Ahead

“Who would have thought that it would fall to us, some of us in our so-called declining years (unless 60 is the new 40) to rescue the Republic?  In our lifetimes, we have had the war in Vietnam, and the Reagan revival, and now we find the left has been tunneling under us all along.  Last Tuesday, the platform we thought was solid collapsed as if its underpinnings had been eaten by termites, which they had.” — Greg Richards via The American Thinker

It didn’t take long, did it?  The next four years of misrule by Hussein Obama have yet to begin and already Israel is under attack, unions have killed off the once indestructible Twinkie, and tens of thousands of American workers who miraculously still hold jobs are facing cutbacks and layoffs due to the looming implementation of Obamacare.  Forward!

We tried to warn the ignorant SOB’s (aka the…

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Wag the Dog (Iran war as election diversion) | Coyote Blog

I will fight when my liberty is truly threatened. But I have absolutely no trust in politicians to determine when this is the case. Which is why my reaction to this is, ‘Oh Crap!’

The U.S. Air Force is quietly assembling the world’s most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. Stealthy F-22 Raptors on their first front-line deployment have joined a potent mix of active-duty and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, including some fitted with the latest advanced radars. The Raptor-Eagle team has been honing special tactics for clearing the air of Iranian fighters in the event of war.

The fighters join a growing naval armada that includes Navy carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers plus patrol boats and minesweepers enhanced with the latest close-in weaponry…. (go here to Wired| Danger Room)

I am sure it is a total coincidence that, after 35 years of butting heads with Iran, this is occurring during a sputtering economy and within months of a Presidential election…

via Coyote Blog | Wag the Dog

Panetta: International Mandate Trumps Congressional Authorization for Wars | Antiwar.com

It perhaps goes without saying that the Obama Administration considers Congress all but irrelevant to the question of its foreign policy, but speaking today at a House hearing, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said it anyway.  Pressed by Sen. Jeff Sessions R – AL on the legal basis for a potential war with Syria, Panetta repeatedly referred to seeking an international mandate, saying that the administration’s goal was “international permission” for such a war, and that Congress would be “informed” once that was obtained.

Sessions repeatedly asked for clarification, pointing out that the War Powers Act explicitly requires Congressional authorization for a war, but Panetta would only say, beyond his repeated calls for NATO or UN imprimatur, that there would be discussion in the administration as to “whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress…” via Antiwar.com

‘Panetta believes Israel will atttck Iran | JPost

According to the report, written by the paper’s senior opinion writer David Ignatius, Panetta is concerned that Israel will launch an attack before Iran enters the so-called “immunity zone” when its nuclear facilities will be heavily fortified and a military strike will no longer succeed.

Ignatius does not quote Panetta in the article but he is currently traveling with the secretary of defense in Brussels.According to the article, Israel might decide to strike before Iran completes the fortification since afterward only America will be capable of stopping Iran militarily….via JPost

Will Israel Attack Iran? | NYTimes.com

Very good, 11 pages and worth the time. GE.

“…The future can evolve in three ways,” he said. “Iran and the international community could agree to a negotiated settlement; Israel and the United States could acquiesce to a nuclear-armed Iran; or Israel or the United States could attack. Nobody wants to go in the direction of a military strike,” he added, “but unfortunately this is the most likely scenario. The more interesting question is not whether it happens but how. The United States should treat this option more seriously and begin gathering international support and building the case for the use of force under international law...”

After speaking with many senior Israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012. Perhaps in the small and ever-diminishing window that is left, the United States will choose to intervene after all, but here, from the Israeli perspective, there is not much hope for that. Instead there is that peculiar Israeli mixture of fear — rooted in the sense that Israel is dependent on the tacit support of other nations to survive — and tenacity, the fierce conviction, right or wrong, that only the Israelis can ultimately defend themselves.

via Will Israel Attack Iran? – NYTimes.com.