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“We are entering troubling times. The conviction that war is upon us grows with each passing day. What remains to be determined is who will dictate the terms of that war - Iran or Israel.”    — Caroline Glick

The Obama Administration’s weakening of America and abandonment of our allies ties right into the unseemly haste of the president’s circle to transform America in 2010.

Seasoned political analyst Caroline Glick last Tuesday in her “A war on whose terms” reports - -

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu just returned from yet another visit with US President Barack Obama. Although the background music was cheerful, from statements by both men it is clear that Obama is not a credible ally. He does not understand or accept the strategic logic behind the US alliance with Israel and will not support Israel in future armed conflicts.

Indeed, in the face of the growing Iranian menace, Obama insists on limiting his interests to the irrelevant faux peace process with Fatah while allowing Iran and its proxies to run wild.

What this means is that for better or for worse, under Obama the US is far less relevant than it was four years ago. And this frees Netanyahu to fight the coming war on Israel’s terms. Iran’s domestic troubles and the Arab world’s genuine fear of a nuclear armed Iran provide Israel with a rare opportunity to radically shift the balance of power in the region for the better. It is time for Netanyahu to lead.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Readers can get a clearer picture of current pressures on Israel and what’s driving the Iranian regime from considering her entire column - -

* * * * *

Rogue CENTCOM Red Team

Veteran national-security sentinel Frank Gaffney asks in his June 30 Newsmax article “Is Petraeus Going Native?”

“It was bad enough when, two months ago, word got around that U.S. Central Command’s commanding general, David Petraeus, had embraced the meme that Americans were being killed in his theater of operations because Israel had refused to make peace with its Palestinian enemies.

Now comes word that elements within his command – including many of its ’senior officers’ and ‘intelligence personnel’ – believe the United States should abandon its longstanding policy of ‘isolating and marginalizing’ Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to an article entitled, ‘Red Team: CENTCOM thinks outside the box on Hamas and Hezbollah’ by Mark Perry published today online by Foreign Policy magazine, a Red Team at Central Command is recommending ‘a mix of strategies that would integrate the two organizations into their respective political mainstreams.’ The justification for treating these designated terrorist organizations as though they were part of the solution is to be found in the following, astounding remarks by unidentified CENTCOM officers . . . .” 

. . . . .

“Even more instructive was the following line by Perry: ‘The Red Team also claims that reconciliation with Fatah, when coupled with Hamas’s explicit renunciation of violence, would gain ‘widespread international support and deprive the Israelis of any legitimate justification to continue settlement building and delay statehood negotiations.’ Indeed, delegitimation of Israel seems pretty much to be the Red Team agenda – a nation that has been and remains a key ally of what one would hope remains the Blue Team: the United States of America.” (Underscoring Forum’s throughout.)

Former Reagan defense aide Gaffney deconstructs the Red Team’s reasoning throughout his post.

* * * * *

General Jim Mattis - - Warrior Monk

Independent defense thinker Ralph Peters last Tuesday told us that “The ‘warrior monk’ New CENTCOM head is our finest Marine” - -

“Nominated last week to replace Gen. David Petraeus as the head of the US Central Command, the Marine Corps’ Gen. Jim Mattis may be the finest four-star on duty in any service today.

He’s certainly the humblest. And maybe the smartest — but he’ll let you figure that out for yourself.

If confirmed, Mattis will team with Petraeus on AfPak, but he’ll also be responsible for the vast surrounding region. He won’t micromanage Petraeus. Instead, he’ll support his nominal subordinate every way he can. He’ll build the frame, letting Petraeus paint the Afghan canvas.”

. . . . . . . . . .

“So the left-wing media hate him. Not only is Mattis a fighter in the great Marine tradition, he doesn’t pretend he’d rather be running a soup kitchen in San Francisco.

The media have conditioned Army generals to apologize for their profession (when they’re not pandering to Islamist terrorists). But lefty journalists will never forgive Mattis for stating, back in 2005, that he enjoys being a Marine.

I sat beside Mattis on a panel in San Diego when he made his ‘infamous’ remarks about taking pleasure in killing the worst of our nation’s enemies. I don’t think he knew there were reporters present. (It was a closed-door session for Marine and Navy officers.) So he spoke the way authentic warriors do.

He was spanked for it. (Wouldn’t want honest generals, would we?) And he won’t make that error again. Yet, when his nomination as CENTCOM commander was announced at a Pentagon press session last week, CNN’s Barbara Starr was seething.

Uninterested in anything else about this great Marine, she read Mattis’ 2005 remarks for the cameras, implying that any Marine who enjoys being a Marine should be kept away from terrorists and children.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Our moral in this brief review of three posts:  don’t forget - - in the midst of our struggle against statism-with-many-faces at home - - that there are dangerous and savage regimes and movements abroad that threaten, not just our traditional allies, but ourselves here at home. 

A militarily strong America with a believable diplomacy and a strong sense of our own sovereignty is essential for a more peaceful and prosperous globe.

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