Israeli and US generals in intense discussions

ISRAPUNDIT ^ | July 6/08 | Ted Belman

[tedbel]

The Israel Herald has a long but interesting article, U.S. and Israeli militaries discuss attack on Liberty in which it links a current discussion on the USS Liberty with a possible attack on Iran. It speculates,

So where does the Liberty fit in? What discussions could have possible brought the Liberty attack to the fore? If indeed Israel is planning an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, could it be that the U.S. has warned the Jewish state it would not tolerate a repeat of what happened to the Liberty? What other explanation could there be for discussing an incident both governments have long tried to forget?

I think this is a weak theory but have none to replace it with. It could have been a matter of talking over old times without anything more than that. Nothing is said to indicate the tenor of the talks. The author is just speculating and from my understanding of the facts, he is not terribly informed or accurate.

But more important is the discussion on Iran. We are advised,

Why Mullen was in Israel at all remains a mystery, and the fact that he spent two days there is even more surprising.

[bruinbirdman]

"Why Mullen was in Israel at all remains a mystery, and the fact that he spent two days there is even more surprising. Not only that but this week’s visit to Israel was the second since December by the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs. Further it followed a visit to Israel last week by two four-star U.S. Generals."

Time is running out in the Bush administration.

Talk about sending a message to Iran.

And the reports that Syria is considering throwing Iran under the bus?

All this psyops going on with the Axis of Evil and not a peep from the ChiComs or Rooskies?

[2ndDivisionVet]

A Vice Admiral has three stars, so that part is wrong. Why would either government bring up the USS Liberty incident? I could see the Obama administration doing this, but virtually no one else. That was 41 years ago!

[bruinbirdman]

"Why would either government bring up the USS Liberty incident? "

Suppose one or the other or jointly some attack contingency were discussed?

"While it was stressed that the parties did not discuss operational coordination, it was agreed by both sides that the United States and Israel would want to avoid any sort of 'mistaken confrontation' such as that which occurred when Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty."

"A Vice Admiral has three stars, so that part is wrong."

Perhaps the size of Israeli naval forces, compared with other services, only rates a Vice Admiral as the equivalent of U.S. Chief of Naval Operations.

yitbos

[Prophet in the wilderness]

My guess is ? in case the US and Israel do attack Iran that there won't be any incidents of friendly fire in case the US places ships near Israel to protect Israel from Iran's missiles.
My hunch is that we are getting close to action soon... our military leaders and Israel's military leaders are hammering out the plans.

[bruinbirdman]

Hmm. The Iraqis have been in quite the hurry lately to finish the domestic job vis a vis al-Qaeda and Sadr/Iranian surrogates. Hearing nothing but how Iraq forces are doing it themselves.

That would free up plenty of U.S. troops on Iran's wastern flank.

Hearing plenty about Pakistan steping up action against Taliban on the eastern Afghan/Pak border areas. There are a lot of U.S. forces on the eastern flank of Iran.

yitbos

[J Aguilar]

I am neither American nor Israeli. I've read about the attack on the Liberty and I find that it can be explained as an accident. I don't believe the Israeli torpedo boats, as far as I can remember, commanded by non-full time sailors, had properly identified the ship as American. I don't think Israel wanted to sink her either, because it would have been attacked with HE bombs, not strafed and rocketed.

Most of the victims came from a single torpedo explosion, that unfortunately occurred near a crew area. Beyond that, the buoyance of the ship was not compromised. She sailed half the Mediterranean along to Malta.