Israeli jets using Iraq's airspace?

[robertik1]

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=63218&sectionid=351020201

Israeli jets using Iraq's airspace?
Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:33:45



The US has allowed Israeli jets to use US airbases in Iraq and fly over Iraqi airspace for a likely attack against Iran, Iraqi media say.

It is more than a month that some Israeli planes belonging to Israeli air force use the US military bases in Iraq to land and take off, Iraqi Nahrainnet news network said Wednesday, quoting informed sources close to Iraq's Defense Ministry.

The activities and traffic of warplanes- especially at nights- has lately increased in the US air bases in Nasiriya southeast of Baghdad and Haditha a city in the western Iraq province of Al Anbar, the Iraqi residents and sources said.

They said the US fighters, cargo planes, helicopters and unmanned planes have intensified their flights in the last three weeks.

The US military officials have imposed severe security measures around the bases, they said.

They said some aircraft suspected to be Israeli warplanes coming from Jordan, have landed in the US controlled al-Assad airbase near Haditha.

It is believed that these activities are parts of a joint Israeli-US training, preparation and coordination to launch an air raid against Iran's nuclear plants.

Israel has conducted a military drill under the supervision of top US military commanders over the Mediterranean Sea from May 28 to June 12, using more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters, along with helicopters and refueling tanks which many consider as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

DTJ/RA

[robertik1]

Barak In Washington To Lobby For Iran Attack



Barak In Washington To Lobby For Iran Attack

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, July 11, 2008

Israeli war minister Ehud Barak will visit Washington next week to meet with top U.S. government officials and President Bush in what some are suggesting will be the final planning session in anticipation of a military strike on Iran.

Barak will hold talks for three days with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice President xxxx Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - as well as U.S. President George Bush.

Barak’s visit will also precede a tour by Israeli military chief of staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, who is set to meet with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.

The trip follows Mossad chief Meir Dagan’s visit to Washington during which he met top intelligence officials.

“The visits of the Israeli officials came as an intense debate continued to rage inside the US administration between those who favored military action, led by Cheney, and those opposed, led by Gates,” according to a Jerusalem Post report.

The talks arrive on the back of two missile tests on behalf of Iran, with a third rumored to have also just taken place.

Far from showcasing Iran’s deadly capability, it appeared as if one of the tests actually went wrong.

Defense analyst Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), studied photographs of the missile launches and came to the conclusion that they had been doctored.




“It very much does appear that Iran doctored the photo to cover up what apparently was a misfiring of one of the missiles,” said Fitzpatrick.

Responding to the tests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that the limited range of Iranian missile technology, which is restricted to within 2,000 kilometers, proves there is no justification for a US missile defense shield to be installed in Europe.

“The tests in Iran confirm that Iran has missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers and confirm… that a missile defence shield with these parameters is not needed to monitor or react to such threats,” he said.

Rhetoric about the Iranian threat, as well as a propaganda assault on behalf of the corporate media, has reached a crescendo over the last two weeks, but forecasts of military action have been plentiful for at least three years though have remained unfulfilled.