Posted on 04/21/2010 8:51:23 AM PDT by jhpigott
In a meeting with students at West Virginia University, a young pilot asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Army, Mike Malen, to comment on rumors that if Israel decides to attack Iran, its fighters will need to cross Iraq's airspace to reach their targets. The U.S. military has described this airspace as ‘closed to flights’. If so, would American forces shoot down Israeli planes flying over Iraq?
Malen's reply: "We have a strong exceptional relationship with Israel. I spent much time with my colleagues in Israel. And so we have a very clear understanding of where we are. Beyond that, I just would not want to get into speculation about what might happen and who might do what. Frankly, I do not think it serves any purpose. I hope that the issue will be resolved in the way which will never have to answer a question like this. "
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
The Liberty attack was pretty surgical - ALL antennae (including the wardroom TV antennae) destroyed with minimal loss of life. Liberty had been broadcasting in the clear and with light encryption what IDF was doing. IAF responds with “STFU” on a grand scale.
Thank you.
That headline is a really deceptive spin on the answer the General gave. Just because he wouldn’t say it at a public forum doesn’t mean such a promise hasn’t already been given or won’t be winked at in the future.
The last thing the Saudis want is for Iran to possess a nuke arsenal, so it wouldn't surprise me if they gave Israel their blessing to fly over their airspace.
yep, it’s Mullen not Malen
foriegn (Israeli) reporting - mistranslated i suppose
It's not getting directly involved.
The U.S. Army Chief of Staff is General George Casey. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is Admiral Michael Mullen. Which of these was it? Or neither?
Yes, but would an Iraqi jete shoot one down, with a nod and a wink from the US?
Flying Tigers.
Yep, that was another time when the hearts of Americans were firmly behind Israel, but the government was not. OTOH, the attack on the Liberty did probably cause some people to turn against Israel, at least for the time being.
WWNCD = What Would Nicholai Carpathia Do?
I can think of a couple of things, e.g., spying on Israel and relaying the information to the Egyptians.
Is that possible? If not, then the Israelis are monsters, the Jews control the US government, etc., etc., etc., right?
Also, Amerian troops aboard the ship waved at the IDF pilots, when the pilots banked and opened fire. Thinking that the Israelis didn't recognize the ship as American, the American troops lowered the flag on the ship and put up a bigger one..... the Israelis banked and opened fire again.
The ship released the lifeboats and on the third strafe, the Israelis blew the lifeboats out of the water. The ship drifted into water that was too shallow to deploy the ditch bags (containg Top Secret radio intercepts and other classified) and were in danger of floating into water too shallow to scuttle the ships.
The ship's captain requsted F-16 support from American stationed in Saudi Arabia; the response was the jets were en-route. The Israelis left the area to avid air to air conflict with American pilots. Fortunately, the Israelis never realized that the F-16s did not receive runway/tower/air space clearance from the Saudis.
The USS Liberty was able limp to port. And since it was no longer under threat, the classified information was not ditched and that is how we came to know of thecircumstances regarding the Six-Day War.
A gag order was placed against the entire crew of the USS Liberty. The Israelis claimed they mistook the ship for an Egyptian one.......that was not comparable in size or appearnce to the USS Liberty. US servicemen that were wounded, blinded, maimed, and the families of those killed, filed a lawsuit against the Israeli government but could not proceed because of the offical gag order...... the captain of the USS Liberty broke his silence on his deathbed something like 20 years after the incident.
All of that said, yes the US and Israel have a strong binding history of friendship; however, they look after and protect Israel's nterests first and foremost. They cannot be faulted for this, every country does this and should do this as a sovereing nation.... including the United States.
While the US was on the receiving end of this attack, Israel obviously felt it was in protection of their interests to destroy an American spy ship (which is what it was). Likewise, Israel cannot expect the US to put the interests of Israel above our own. The US has a duty first and foremost to US inteests..... including the tens of tousands of US troops in th region. Now, the powers that be may allow Israel use of US controlled airspace if it wil not hinder US interests.... but no one should just assue it so.
FYI.... source of info for this post is Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency by James Bamford.
It is a very well researched and informative book concerning some of the US' intelligence successes and failures.
“there are alternative routes”
Israel could work over Hezbollah and Syria on the way to or from the real work.
With the move Bashir Assad just pulled providing SCUDs to Hezbollah, I would say that’s a very real possibility
“Speculation is always so much more fun than a factual review.”
But you can’t review the facts because you don’t have all of them, do you? Instead, let’s just waive the Liberty around without asking and getting answers to the tough questions.
That’s not necessarily wrong. It could have been in the best interests of the US.
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