(WTF is it now?) Patriot missile crews head to Israel for joint exercises

[lebkuchen]

That is the front page headlines of today's Stars and Stripes (sans parenthetical)

**********************************************************

While the timing of the exercise comes amid increasing tension in the Middle East, Army officials said Tuesday that the missile exercise had been planned for a year.

“There is absolutely no connection with this exercise and any event in the region,” Summers said. “As always, we are interested in implementing lessons learned from training exercises.”

The deployment of the crews and their missiles is partly a signal to others in the Middle East but largely a reassurance to the Israelis, said Michael Desch, a political science professor at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

“The symbolic thing is this signals the American commitment to Israeli security,” he said.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27624

[Mari333]

1. Bush is Sharon's bitch

always has been.

[lebkuchen]

3. What if Israel is planning an attack against Iran

say, around June, to provoke Iran into committing another "Pearl Harbor?"

[Ganja Ninja]

4. That was my first thought when I read this.

They're pre-positioning patriot missiles before an attack by either us or Israel.

[daleo]

24. Not that it will do them much good.

If the Iranians have decent missiles, the Patriots are unlikely to stop them. They stopped less than 10% (maybe 0, accounts vary) of Saddam's Scuds in 1991. I suppose there may have been some improvement, although I would need to see evidence. Stopping missiles is just too difficult.

[LeftHander]

13. ding ding ding....

Correct answer!

Finger on nose then pointing to you...

[leftchick]

20. then we have the draft

sooner rather than later. We are running out of bodies fast. :(

[0007]

21. Tis a one way street Mari!

:hi:
Hope all is well with you these days

[beam me up scottie]

2. Absolutely no connection whatsoever...

"The deployment of the crews and their missiles is partly a signal to others in the Middle East but largely a reassurance to the Israelis, said Michael Desch, a political science professor at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University."


Oh I feel reassured now too, how about you guys?

[uppityperson]

5. Whew, I can sleep soundly at night now.

Coincidence is an amazing thing.

[The Stranger]

15. "The Bush School of Government"

A confederacy of dunces.

[beam me up scottie]

27. snark! I know.

"and public service"
sure, because the bushes have always been committed to serving the public, right?

Who makes this shit up? And do they know how stupid they sound?

[peacebird]

18. just another amazing coincidence.....

:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

6. Yeah, the symbolic thing. Like the 500 Bunker busting bombs

that we sent them last year?

Symbols of the future of the Iranian Nuclear industry?

[0007]

7. "this signals the American commitment to Israeli security,”

....and this is exactly what the problems are in the Middle East.

[Just Me]

8. The neoCONs are preparing for their wage of "all out war".

Their merely putting everything in place.

[Kweli4Real]

9. I'm really going to start worrying when ...

The US forces in Iraq start re-deploying toward Iran (or Syria). Oh, they already doing that.

[yo-yo-ma]

10. "planned for a year"

Just like the military exercises in Quatar had been planned for years (or whatever) and had nothing to do with the Iraq invasion that happened shortly thereafter . . .

[realFedUp]

11. eyes rolling.....

Can I become French please.

[Tempest]

12. WTF?

"Its success in the Gulf War made the missile a household name in America."


The "success" of the patriot missile was a lie.

http://www.cdi.org/issues/bmd/Patriot.html

[lastknowngood]

14. The shrub and shrone the drone are preparing for Lebanon and

Syria.

[Karenina]

16. HOW do WE the PEOPLE

STOP THIS NONSENSE??? :freak:
It's destructive, ridiculous nonsense that does NO ONE any good.
I just don't grok anymore... :shrug:

[rzemanfl]

25. Have John Kerry go to France and from there issue an order

as the real Commander-in-Chief that no one is to obey *'s orders.

He needs to do it from France because * would declare him an "enemy combatant" if he did it here.

[zulchzulu]

17. What better way to get rid of old missiles than to blow up brown people

This has to be some of the best times for these warmongers. First, they take the order for the new line of missiles to have sent at a later date.

Don't fuckin' worry!

The taxpayer will pay for the inflated prices from the no-bid contracts.

Then you set up a war. It's easy! Just send Drudge a fax and BOOM! It's all over the media!

Now, load up the older missiles on boats and planes and send 'em over there. Drum beat the war thing a little more. Make sure you have some cameras in the target areas (get newscasters to call it Ground Zero) that will show nice far-away shots to woo the audience. Not too close...why would you want to actually see the damage up close?

Finally, just blow up the brown people! They don't believe in the right God anyway, so fuck 'em. Go USA!

Dang, Billy. Heard 'bout that war with them crazy A-rabs? Shit, whudduya we dwoin' here. Let's go watch it at the sports bar!

[rzemanfl]

19. I could swear they did this same thingtwo years ago-right

before the start of the Iraq War.

[saskatoon]

22. Cut and Dried

It has all been planned and laid out in Detail. June is the date, watch and see any doubters out there---then you will they wake up and recognize you have been bamboozled from the beginning.

[jpak]

23. And they will be joined by a couple carrier battle groups

and a few LA-class subs in the eastern Med in June as well????

[currents]

26. This is no big deal it is an opperation that always happens

My brother was on this joint patriot missle thing before the OIF. But then again, he got there in Dec, 02 and a couple months later we invaded Iraq.

He then had to stay there extra long in case Iraq launched missle at Isreal. Anyway. It is a common mission and it happens every couple of years aparently.

[beam me up scottie]

28. I think the question is...

will the me see it that way?
We kinda have an image problem over there, ya know what I mean?
;-)

[beam me up scottie]

29. Oh yeah,

Welcome to DU!
:hi:

[Gyre]

30. Sy Hersch said June for Iran, and

the "ultimatum" to Syria is May. Anybody check the Armageddon clock to see what time it is?

Gyre