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International News Title: Israel-Us Military Exercise Postponed For Lack Of Money Israel has postponed joint military maneuvers with the US, which were supposed to begin in the Negev in the next few months, due to budgetary constraints, JTA reports (from an Israeli source) and "The Atlantic" reports (from senior Pentagon officials). According to these reports, it was Israel that initiated the postponement of the maneuvers and not the US, as the Israeli media had claimed. Operation Austere Challenge 12 was going to be the largest US-Israeli joint exercise in history. The purpose of the maneuvers was to practice ballistic missile defense scenarios, and 5,000 soldiers from both countries' armies were to participate in them. Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs in the US Department of State Andrew Shapiro was the first to speak about these maneuvers in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on November 6. The joint maneuvers were mentioned several times by senior administration officials who emphasized the US's commitment to Israel's security. Israel Ambassador to the US Michael Oren said on Tuesday that the decision to postpone the maneuvers was jointly made by the US military commander in Europe (EUCOM) and the IDF, and that the decision is due to technicalities only. "These types of postponements are routine and do not reflect strategic or political motives," Oren said. "The US and Israel continue to be committed to holding the maneuvers." According to the announcement, the maneuvers will be held in the second half of 2012. "The Atlantic's" Jeffrey Goldberg, who specializes in Middle East affairs, wrote that, contrary to reports in the Israeli press that President Barack Obama had requested the delay of the maneuvers in an effort to let Tehran cool off, Pentagon officials are now saying that it was actually Minister of Defense Ehud Barak who asked US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to postpone the exercise. A senior Pentagon official said that the claim that the postponement stems from the Obama administration's concern that the exercise would further inflame winds in Iran is baseless. A senior defense official told "The Atlantic", "Minister Barak called Secretary Panetta and asked if we could take the exercise off the calendar. The Israelis were concerned that they did not have the resources in place to carry it out effectively." Goldberg wrote, "According to these officials, Barak told Panetta that Israel could not pull together the resources necessary to stage the exercise successfully. 'Our military is much bigger than theirs and this exercise was going to consume a much larger portion of their resources,' the Pentagon official said." Goldberg continues, "Panetta, according to these Pentagon sources, was concerned that the Iranians would interpret the scrubbing of the exercise, well, the way it's currently being interpreted, as a sign of American wavering in the face of Iranian threats. He told Barak that he would not agree to a cancellation, as Barak was suggesting, but only a postponement." "Panetta's initial reaction was, 'I don't want to take this off the calendar.' He said it would send the wrong signal (to Iran)." Goldberg wrote, "After multiple conversations, Panetta and Barak agreed to postpone Austere Challenge 12 until fall." Laura Rozen's blog, "The Envoy" on the Yahoo News website, gives a similar version, but with other emphases. According to "The Envoy," Barak requested from the Pentagon to postpone (and not to cancel) the maneuvers, and the request set off alarms in the administration. "American sources privately voiced concern that the Israeli request for a postponement of the exercise could be read as a potential warning sign that Israel is leaving its options open to conduct a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in the spring. Thus, the concern went, it may not want 5,000 US troops on the ground in Israel in April and May, as had been scheduled for the exercise." Rozen wrote. One way or another, it is clear that the Obama administration quickly denied the Israeli media claim that the White House was the one that requested to cancel the exercises "in order to avoid further escalating tensions with Iran at this time," Rozen wrote. "To the various rumors circulating that the United States had instigated the delay, one US official told Yahoo News Sunday: 'b.s. It was Barak'," Rozen wrote. Rozen continues, "Observers of the awkward efforts to explain the war-games postponement can't help but wonder at the fact that an exercise that was supposed to show unprecedented mutual cooperation between the US and Israel with an eye toward Iran has instead revealed signs of strain and apprehension in the two countries' defense relations." The fact that the Obama administration is renouncing all responsibility for the delay of the maneuvers has been a cause for embarrassment in conservative circles, which have begun to attack the administration for allegedly capitulating to Iran. An article titled, "Obama throws temper tantrum" on "The Conservative Cloakroom" website, says, "The Obama administration cancels the US-Israeli Austere Challenge 12 war-games that was scheduled to begin this spring because of disagreements with Israel. Obama is said to be furious at Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon when Ya'alon rightly expressed Israel's disappointment with Obama's efforts to prevent Iranian nuclearization." And the website, "Truth-out.org" writes: " The idea that the Israelis wanted the postponement appears to be a cover story to mask the political blow it represents to the Netanyahu government and to shield Obama from Republican charges that he is not sufficiently supportive of Israel." Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 18, 2012
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
And the website, "Truth-out.org" writes: " The idea that the Israelis wanted the postponement appears to be a cover story to mask the political blow it represents to the Netanyahu government and to shield Obama from Republican charges that he is not sufficiently supportive of Israel." I just knew it was due to "crybabies". Bibi's one big cry baby.
Almost every country in the Middle East is awash in oil, and we have to side with the one that has nothing but joos. Goddamn, that was good thinkin'. Esso posted on 2012-01-13 7:37:56 ET
Just wait for the 'special request' to congress for additional funding to the bastard state. China is already prepping the 'note'...
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
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