Sunday, March 21

Lights, Camera, Distraction!


by Keith Johnson

Days after our tough talking Vice President Joe Biden returned from his trip to Israel with a handful of broken glass, the Obama administration announced that it has blocked delivery of armaments slated for delivery to the state of Israel. This announcement brought cheers and jeers from opposite ends of the political spectrum while leaving those in the middle, well…perplexed.

The diplomatic theatre going on between Israel and the Obama administration has everybody fooled. But this entire political circus is purely for public consumption. The short-term goal is to create the illusion that there is a riff between the two nations, while the larger scheme is intended to give Israel complete inculpability when the U.S. finally decides to strike Iran. The move yesterday by the Obama administration to divert delivery of 387 bunker-busters from the state of Israel to the island of Diego Garcia is just another slight-of-hand maneuver in the shell game that is being played out in the days leading up to the inevitable attack on the Islamic state.

Quoting from a Thursday article in the World Tribune “In January 2010, the administration agreed to an Israeli request to double the amount of U.S. military stockpiles to $800 million. Officials said the bunker-busters as well as Patriot missile interceptors were included in the agreement.” Now, are we expected to believe that it was Israel’s announcement to construct new illegal settlements in disputed East Jerusalem that has compelled the administration to go back on its promise? Give me a break! Is Israel’s expansionist campaign something new? They’ve never stopped building. They’ve never stopped destroying. They’ve never stopped killing. They have been engaged in an ongoing military adventure that has violated the human rights and cost thousands of Palestinian lives for as long as this writer has been alive.

The whole staged crisis between the U.S. and Israel is to secure delivery of those weapons to a more strategic location. That’s always been the plan. If not, why would they even put those munitions into transit at all? It’s obvious that a direct delivery of those weapons to Diego Garcia would be just too obvious. But by creating the illusion that those weapons were intended on being delivered to Israel, the contrived “last-minute decision” to divert them to housing on Diego Garcia appears to be merely an innocuous logistics decision. But it’s anything but innocuous. When you realize the strategic significance of this move it makes the reality of the world crisis we are now facing even that more ominous. Diego Garcia is a U.S. air and naval stronghold in the Indian Ocean. It is a giant, sprawling military complex that was solely responsible for launching air strikes against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. More recently, coalition aircraft at Diego Garcia dropped more ordnance on Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan than any other unit during the war on terror. This is not a place where bombs go to sit in storage. This is a place they go before they’re launched.

Delivering the bunker-busters to Israel would have been a major strategic blunder. It would have made Israel appear even that more threatening and lend credibility to both nations’ critics who have been saying all along that there is no clear distinction between Israel and the United States. It would have created a larger crisis throughout the world and lend justification for Iran and its allies to fortify their borders against a well-armed Israel. The United States and Israel are very conscious of this; and that is why they unilaterally played this out the way they did. This strategy to make Israel look like an estranged child from its parent gives them complete deniability once the bombs start dropping. They believe that this staged feud between Israel and the U.S. will put the kibosh on any allegations that the two are working in concert. But behind the scenes, they hope to provoke Iran into a retaliatory strike on Israel in order to lend justification for their involvement and compel the American people to come to their defense.

But still, many are buying into this illusion that was created to keep one guessing about the true nature of relations between Israel and the Obama administration. The whole scenario is being played on the American people like a Hollywood script. It reminds me of the scene from Chinatown when Private Detective J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is slapping around Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) trying to get her to confess what her relationship is to the daughter of millionaire Noah Cross (John Huston).

Evelyn: She’s my daughter.
[Gittes slaps Evelyn]
Gittes: I want the truth!
Evelyn: She’s my sister…
[slap]
Evelyn: She’s my daughter…
[slap]
Evelyn: My sister, my daughter.
[More slaps]
Gittes: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn: She’s my sister AND my daughter!

Such is the game being played on us concerning Obama, his motivations and his true relationship with Israel. He’s a Muslim… He’s a Jew… He’s black… He’s white… He’s for Israel…He’s against Israel. It’s all drama, intended on keeping the audience confused and deceived as they try to follow a plot as convoluted as one you’re likely to find in the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel.

This whole mystery centered on Obama has been going on from the day he became a strong contender for the Presidency and cumulated during his 2009 Middle Eastern trips to three “so-called” Islamic countries. This was proof positive to some that he was acting on behalf of the Muslims. Actually, the opposite was true. Just look at the three countries he visited during that trip: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Now why in the world would Obama choose these, and only these three destinations on his Middle Eastern trip? Surely, the people from war torn regions of Palestine, Iraq and certain African regions would like to hear words of comfort and compassion from a fellow Muslim. But his mission was not to reach out to defeated Muslims, his was to act as Israel’s envoy to repair relations with a nation it depends upon for trade and to solidify alliances with nations they are hoping to depend upon when they go to war against Iran.

For instance, Israel and Turkey have had a long history of favorable relations. Turkey is NOT an Arab nation. It is European. Though ninety plus percent of the population is Islamic, the government is secular and pseudo-democratic based on European/Anglo principles and intent on smashing any attempt by the religious leaders to usurp their power. Turkey is an applicant to the European Union. Turkey is a member nation of NATO. Turkey is not anti-Christian. Turkey has a significant Jewish demographic. Turkey is an ally to the United States and enjoyed a great relationship with Israel until the Israeli Offensive on Gaza. This is where relations strained and that is why Obama was sent there. Israel depends on Turkey. They have been long trading partners both in goods and services as well as weapons and technology. They had plans and hope to continue plans to build a pipeline to supply oil, natural gas, water, electricity and fiber optic cables to Israel. Israel’s ability to keep free-trade open with Turkey and secure that pipeline is vital to Israel’s existence.

How about Saudi Arabia and Egypt? Both countries are western client states and some kind of alliance with them (or at least their neutrality) is vital once war is finally declared upon Iran. Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are Sunni while Iran is Shiite—they are sworn enemies. Both countries are strong trading partners with the United States and though they do not engage in diplomatic relations with Israel, the United States acts as a conduit to do their bidding.

The strained relations between Israel and the Arab nations is another reason why Israel needs to stay out of the picture when the Iranian conflict gets underway. If Israel makes a first strike against Iran, or if the United States and Israel strike together, that could cause a severe breach in cooperation from the Arab nations in the region.

Remember what happened shortly after Obama’s Middle-Eastern trip and his so-called “reaching out” to the Muslim world? A little more than a month later his puppet masters George Soros and Zbigniew Brzenzski attempted to overthrow the Iranian government by way of a “color revolution.” Now we see yet another hand reaching out in an assumed gesture of peace. I guess we’ll just have to wait to see how long it takes before that hand turns into a fist…and comes down smacking hard!
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