US Fears Impending Israeli Attack on Iran over Nukes

United States officials are  worried that Israel may attack Iran's nuclear facilities at any given moment, according to an Israeli televison station.

This fear is being driven by the union of Shaul Mofaz and his Kadima party with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

United States officials are  worried that Israel may attack Iran's nuclear facilities at any given moment, according to an Israeli televison station, 

This fear is being driven by the union of Shaul Mofaz and his Kadima party with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

According to a story on the Arutz Sheva website (referencing the Channel 10 item) U.S. officials believe a Likud-Kadima government could make a quick decision about an Israeli attack on Iran at any moment, even before the U.S. presidential elections in November.

The Americans have been operating under the assumption that early elections would be held in Israel which would likely postpone an Israeli attack of Iran at least until after the election. 

With Israeli politics stabilized and the current government likely to end its term as scheduled, the situation has changed and the US is worried.

It is generally accepted by the US, European and Gulf Arab states that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program, not simply peaceful, energy applications.

The position of the Israeli minister of defense remains that "as long as Iran poses a threat to Israel with its nuclear program, all options are on the table."

Defense Minster Ehud Barak recently said, "I believe it is well understood in Washington, D.C., as well as in Jerusalem that as long as there is an existential threat to our people, all options to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons should remain on the table,"

"A military option is not a simple one," Barak added. "It would be complicated with certain associated risks. But a radical Islamic Republic of Iran with nuclear weapons would be far more dangerous both for the region and, indeed, the world."

Recent reports indicate that President Barack Obama is prepared to make a major concession to Iran on uranium enrichment which would allow five percent enrichment if Iran  takes other major steps to curb its ability to develop nuclear weapons.

(Summarized and excerpted from Arutz Sheva, Israel National News)

American Truism #15.

Team Obama Caught Lying About Gay Marriage Decision

Team Obama has just been caught in a lie, and most people probably haven't even realized it, yet.


A story in today's DAILY BEAST by media watcher Howard Kurtz essentially claimed that Obama's hand was forced into making a statement on his change of opinion on gay marriage because Vice President Joe Biden's endorsement of gay marriage on Sunday.


Kurtz' story says the Biden remarks "knocked the White House off what was supposed to be its message this week—student loans and economic issues.


But, this story, being pushed by the Obama camp, is a lie.


And here's how we know that:


Antonio Villaraigosa, Chair of the National Democratic Convention just blew Obama's cover story, and probably doesn't even realize (yet) what he's done.

Appearing on tonight's (Thurs, May 10th) JOHN KING USA (CNN) Villaraigosa said he had known for about two weeks that BHO would make a statement, changing his stand on gay marriage.


 "I did know a couple of weeks ago that something would be said soon . . . that the President would be making a statement soon on the issue."  - Antonio Villaraigosa


There's no ambiguity there whatsoever.  Villaraigosa answered a direct question from John King and said clearly that he had known something was brewing for two weeks.


So, why does this matter?  Who cares? 


It matters because the Obama camp has absolutely USED the media (including Howard Kurtz, who I LOVE) to make it appear that the President has been "struggling" with the issue of gay marriage and that the only reason he went public was because of Biden's "ill-timed" remarks.


According to Kurtz' DAILY BEAST article, "The declaration was not supposed to come this week. Instead, the White House had planned to dramatically unveil the shift shortly before the Democratic convention. But Obama had been agitated by Vice President Joe Biden’s own endorsement of gay marriage on Sunday, which knocked the White House off what was supposed to be its message this week—student loans and economic issues."

Kurtz goes on to say, "The president expressed his frustration to West Wing officials—some of whom questioned whether Biden had wandered off script or was trying to foster a change in policy—but Obama didn’t take up the issue with his No. 2. Asked about Biden's role in prodding him, Obama acknowledged to ABC "that I would have preferred to do it in my own time, on my own terms."

EVEN as I type this, CNN's Erin Burnett is reporting that Biden is being "thrown under the bus" for preempting Obama with his own statement.  Clearly, that's not true if people such as Villaraigosa have known about a pending Obama change for as long two weeks.


American Truism #14.

North Korean Rocket Launch Fails, Embarrasses Communist Government

On the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birthday, North Korea launched a long-range rocket, but the rocket failed soon after lift-off.


Sources in Japan, the United States and South Korea all report that the North Korean rocket broke up shortly after lift off, never leaving the atmosphere.


This is a major political embarrassment for the Communist North Korean government and yet another set-back for space or ballistic missile program.
The North Korean government seemingly was quite confident of its ability to pull off this rocket launch successfully.  


This is evidenced through the government's hosting of international journalists at the launch site.


According to the New York Times, "The three-stage rocket, called the Unha-3, blasted off from the Soehae launch site near North Korea's western corner with China, at about 7:39 a.m., the South Korea Defense Ministry said."


The Japanese government reported Thursday evening (April 12th) that the North Korean rocket flew for just over one minute, falling harmlessly into the ocean.


The United Nations Security Council will meeting on Friday (April 13th) to discuss a UN response to North Korea's actions.It is very likely that this failed rocket launch by North Korean will cause the United States to cancel promised shipments of food relief.


Nukes Next?


It has also been reported that North Korea has been planning a test of its nuclear arsenal in the coming days, to follow its rocket launch.  With the epic failure of its rocket, it is unclear if the North Korean government will push ahead with its planned nuclear detonation.


American Truism # 13.

Heart Attack & Chronic Cocaine Use Cause Whitney Houston's Drowning

Sadly, what we'd all suspected as the cause of Whitney Houston's death was confirmed today by the Los Angeles coroner's office.  

According to the Associated Press, Houston died from drowning in her hotel bathtub, but heart disease and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors to her death.


"Something happened that caused her to go down and we know that when she slipped under the water she was still alive," the Coroner said. "We have evidence of drowning since there was water in the lungs. 


"The 60% narrowing of her arteries "suggest a cardiac event complicated by the cocaine use" led to Houston's slipping underwater.

Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and her death has been ruled as accidental. Bottles of prescription drugs were found in Houston's hotel room, but not in excessive amounts said the coroner's office.

Toxicology results showed that Houston had marijuana, Xanax, Flexeril (a muscle relaxant), and Benadryl in her system. 

The singer also had a heart disease that caused blockages in her arteries.  Houston died at the age of 48.  

A full autopsy report is expected to be released in two weeks.


American Truism #12.

(This story borrows heavily from an Associated Press story)

Some Real Truth: This American Life Comes Clean on Being Duped by Lying Apple Critic Mike Daisey

If American Truism is supposed to be about the truth, then it cannot always simply criticize.


Something I heard on the radio yesterday, is worthy of spreading to the far corners of the earth, for multiple reasons.


If you're a fan of National Public Radio (aka NPR), you're likely familiar with "This American Life (TAL)" hosted by Ira Glass.  TAL is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 1.8 million listeners and holds itself to journalistic standards.


The show typically relates the true stories of everyday people, though not always. 
This week Glass and his producers announced that they had discovered a story TAL broadcast in January "contained significant fabrications." 


In a statement on TAL's website, Glass said, "We're retracting the story because we can’t vouch for its truth. This is not a story we commissioned. It was an excerpt of Mike Daisey's acclaimed one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in which he talks about visiting a factory in China that makes iPhones and other Apple products.

Daisey has performed his Apple-bashing monologue in theaters around the country and, in the process, became a recognized "voice of criticism"


The short version is that Mike Daisey was looking to criticize working conditions in the factories of Apple's Chinese vendors, specifically Foxconn which manufactures iPhones and iPads in Shenzhen China.  Nothing wrong there, in fact the "intent" is to be applauded.


However, as is often the case, Daisey fell short on the execution.  Waaay short.  In no uncertain terms, he lied.  He fabricated stories, people and conditions to fit his "Apple as the Bad Guy" world view.


And Glass called him on it.


As Glass described in a statement on TAL's website, "The China correspondent for the public radio show Marketplace tracked down the interpreter that Daisey hired when he visited Shenzhen China. The interpreter disputed much of what Daisey has been saying on stage and on our show. 


And, then, something amazing, something quite rare happened.  Glass and company RETRACTED their program.  Not only did they retract it, they spent an ENTIRE HOUR of airtime explaining what happened and falling on a sword, admitting they had not lived up to their own journalistic standards.


"Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast. That doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake," Glass said in a statement.


"We're horrified to have let something like this onto public radio.
Glass could have taken the route we see so often, issuing a brief statement saying, "Mistakes were made," and moved on, but he didn't.


The episode of THIS AMERICAN LIFE that I heard on the radio Saturday was riveting.  I joined the show about halfway through, and because I was driving a couple of hours, was able to catch it again, in its entirety a couple of hours later on a different NPR station.


This episode of TAL is not to be missed.  Read more about the entire situation here on TAL's website AND (not or) listen to the RETRACTION broadcast.  It is almost PAINFUL to hear the questions Glass asks of Daisey about the veracity of his story and why he lied to TAL staff. 

Long, long pauses in Daisey's responses punctuate Glass' cross examination.  It is obvious he is trying to come up with explanations for the lies without characterizing them as what they most obviously are, lies.  


My descriptions don't do it justice.  You REALLY need to listen to THE RETRACTION in its entirety.


I cannot commend Ira Glass and the staff of TAL enough for having the courage to admit a mistake and do everything they can to make it right.  That has to be tough for the TAL staff because the original episode was one of the show's most popular ever, with 888,000 downloads and 206,000 streams.


Glass recalls that Daisey gave him the runaround when TAL staff were going through their usual fact checking process.  "At that point, we should've killed the story," he said.  "But other things Daisey told us about Apple's operations in China checked out, and we saw no reason to doubt him. We didn't think that he was lying to us and to audiences about the details of his story. That was a mistake."


It's also instructive to read the news coverage of this story.  A simple Google News story for "Mike Daisey" is a good place to start.  


Daisey, shame on you.  TAL, bravo.


Now, I'm going to sit back and wait for the DOZENS of other media outlets that have hailed Daisey as a hero and voice of the oppressed to do the same thing that TAL did.  


As reported by Mark Kennedy in THE HUFFINGTON POST: 


"Daisey portrayed his work as fact during a media blitz to promote his critically acclaimed show, and he misled dozens of news and entertainment outlets, including the popular public radio show 'This American Life,' The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC and HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher.'


Fess up, eat your crow and dedicate as much airtime or space to exposing Daisey's lies as you did to giving  this fraud a forum to present his fantasy as truth.


Ira Glass and "This American Life" did.  So can you.


American Truism #11.

Experts Discuss the Dire Consequences of an Israeli or US Attack on Iran

As I've said in a previous blog post, I understand Israel's concern over Iran possibly acquiring nuclear weapons.  And, I understand why Israel (or other neighbors of Iran) might want to launch a "preemptive strike" in order to keep Iran from weaponizing its atomic energy program.

Yet, the ramifications of an Israeli (or US) attack on Iran could be devastating for many reasons.  Here are a few of the things that such an attack might prompt and the people who've talked about these possibilities:

• Oil could skyrocket to $500 / barrel.
• All-out war could break out in the region.
• Iran, which hasn't weaponized it's nukes, might feel pressured to do so.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson 

Former Chief of Staff for US Secretary of State Colin Powell

• Iran is prepared to launch 11,000 missiles on Israel and the United States.

Ghazanfar Roknabadi

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon

• Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz with mines, driving up the cost of oil.
• Extensive conflict could break out between Israel and Hezbollah, or Israel and Hamas.

Mark Fitzpatrick

Director, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program,
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

• Iran and groups like Hezbollah might engage in terror attacks following an attack on Iran.

Daniel Byman

Counter-terrorism Expert, Brookings Institute

American Truism # 10.



Midnight Approaches: Israel Prepares for Attack on Iran with Bunker Buster Request

Following President Obama’s address to AIPAC in which he gave the “green light” to Israel for an attack on Iran, Israel has now requested advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and refueling planes from the United States, according to a Reuters report.

These bunker buster bombs and planes would significantly improve Israel’s ability to carry out successful bombing attacks on Iran's underground nuclear sites.

That's not just MY opinion.  That supposition comes straight from an unnamed Israeli official.

As reported by Reuters, it appears that the US received the request for bunker busters and refueling planes during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to Washington.

Other reports claim the US might supply the hardware, but only under the condition that Israel promises not to attack Iran THIS YEAR.

JUST NOT THIS YEAR?  But, 2013 would be fine?  Sounds like a political calculation on the part of Team Obama.

I’m not making a judgment here.  When all is said and done, maybe Israel has no other choice.  I believe it’s possible for a rational person to come to that conclusion, yet recent events seem to indicate that Israel is hell bent on destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities, WITH or WITHOUT the aid and comfort of the United States.

In a recent article musing upon the entire Israel / Iran / US relationship and likely outcomes, Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for THE ATLANTIC  noted, “I don't believe the leaders of Iran are Nazis, but they certainly do talk like Nazis, and they've oriented their foreign and defense policies around the extermination of the Jewish state."

A White House spokesman denied that requests for bunker busters and refueling planes were made during the Netanyahu / Obama meetings.  But, we all know that could simply be semantics and that back channel discussions could have already taken place.   This alternative channel may very well have been Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

The White House wouldn’t confirm or deny a possible DOD possible role, saying only, "I would refer you to other officials.”

Unnamed sources on the US side confirm that these conversations DID take place between Netanyahu and Panetta.  The same source claims no deals were finalized.

While many agree that Obama’s AIPAC speech was indeed a “green light” to attack Iran and its nuclear capabilities, it still puts the Obama administration in a tight spot.

An Israeli-Iranian war would create tough political sledding for Obama in this US election year.  Such a conflict would almost certainly send oil and gas prices skyrocketing, a condition which hold great political peril for Obama.  Yet, being seen as weak on Iran and lukewarm in his support of Israel could be even worse for Obama.

None of the parties involved wants to see an Israeli-Iranian conflict.  And, while its neighbors are no great fans of Iran, a unilateral attack on the trouble-making nation might be all the excuse its neighbors need to unleash “attacks of solidarity” on Israel.

Pressure is growing on all sides, and no one appears to be willing to stand down or blink, which may make armed conflict between Israel and Iran inevitable.

While unlikely, one possibility is that taking recent events into account, Iran could decide to make a preemptive strike of its own against Israel.  This is unlikely because it would allow Israel to strike at Iran with practically no limits while giving Iran’s neighbors the cover they’d need to sit on the sidelines.  Still, the behavior of Iran’s political and religious leadership rarely follows conventional wisdom.

Obama is between a rock and a rockier place, unlikely to get any softer in the coming weeks.  He can’t be the president who allowed Iran to have a nuclear bomb.  He also can’t be the president that allowed Israel to launch a preemptive strike on Iran.  And the LAST thing he wants to do is commit American military power and lives into a new Middle East conflict.

American Truism #9.