Israeli fighter jets using Iraqi airspace and U.S. bases in Iraq to prep for Iran strike

BAGHDAD, July 10 (UPI) -- Israeli fighter jets are thought to be using Iraqi airspace and U.S. bases in Iraq to prepare for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Iraqi sources said.
The Iraqi news network Nahrainnet cited anonymous sources in the Iraqi Defense Ministry saying Israeli jets have used Jordanian air space to land at U.S. airbases in Iraq for the past month.

The source said the jets "are probably" part of a training exercise to prepare for an attack against Iran. U.S. cargo planes, unmanned drones and other aerial vehicles have increased their flights during the past few weeks as well, the sources claimed.

Iranian Press TV said Thursday the suspected warplanes are conducting nighttime operations from U.S. airbases in the southern city of Nasiriyah and Haditha in western Anbar province.

Both reports claimed U.S. military officials have imposed strict security measures around the military bases, notably the al-Assad airbase in Haditha.

The Israeli military conducted recent exercises in the Mediterranean Sea in what some observers saw as a warning to Iran.

Iran on Wednesday and Thursday conducted several missile tests in an apparent response to the move.

http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/07/10/iraqi_airspace_used_by_israel_sources_say/0d64/

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has flexed America's muscles in the Middle East, forcefully warning Iran that the US would not ignore threats and would take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf.

And a fresh Iranian missile test prompted a show of force from Israel as well.

Ms Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington would not dismiss provocation from Tehran and had the ability to counter them.

Yeah ... so what if it's Israel who strikes first, hmmmm?

( Full Article )

This story keeps popping up in highly-unreliable sources, and has been shot down by official sources.



This story emerged in February, and was recently denied by the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.




Also, incoming head of the Joint Chiefs recently told Israeli brass no such permision would be given.


reports in the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz that Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told top officials of the Israeli Defense Forces that the United States would not give them a "green light" to launch airstrikes on Iran. (See, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000091.html )

This is not merely a political statement. To send fighter-bombers to attack Iran, the Israelis would need permission to fly over Iraq on the way. Maliki certainly wouldn't approve such a plan; Mullen was saying that President Bush wouldn't, either.


More war of nerves stuff.

...and our Congress should should stop helping, or allowing our tax money to prop up rouge nations like Israel

will imperil their own safety and also wreck the economy of the one country in the world where Israel is held to be sacrosanct, the one country in the world enthralled by Zionist/Likud proponents. It just does not make any sense to me. Those of us who want peace in the ME, peace and justice for all groups, are simply baffled.

Likudnik-Rightist Zionist Whackjobs.

Flyover and support from within Iraq is the only way for Israel to safely hit Iran.

Why is the US doing that? You can construct convoluted models of how the Israeli tail is wagging the American dog, or you can go for the straightforward explanation: If it happens, it will be an American operation, and Israel (which wants it too) will be put on the front-line to bear the risk and take the blame.

to "safely hit" Iran. I think if we can get through to the beginning of an Obama presidency, we will have dodged the bullet. But my heart is very often in my throat about this since I think our society would simply cease to function if the oil is largely cut off.

And you're right in what you say, but who says the maniacs in charge of the two countries are rational?!

I was only referring to the military situation of the first strike. The Israeli AF can't take the risk of striking on its own. If they're going to do it, they need support from Iraq. If that's the case, it's a US operation.

What follows is no doubt the disaster you mean.

The fact that we're even allowing Israel to do this should be enough to galvanize Congress into action. Take the motherfucker out now.

Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have their heads so far up AIPAC's ass, they think the sky is brown.

I know it ain't gonna happen. I know that if and when either the US or Israel attacks Iran, Pelosi and many other spineless Democrats in Congress will be there waving their pom-poms, talking about "national unity", and declaring what an imminent threat Iran is to the world.

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I first saw it early Friday morning on the Israel Insider website which is a right/religious site whose contributors include Daniel Pipes and other PNACers. It doesn't pass my smell test. I can't believe The IDF air force could violate Jordanian air space without a voice being raised by someone in the Jordanian military.

Well said.

it's still a government of and by a majority Muslim Shia. And this majority would not passively allow another country to use its country and facilities to attack, injure, destroy, etc. another country of Muslim Shia.

The only way this would happen would be that the Iraqi government were lied to and believed the lie.

whilst attacks were being prepared against Iraq. King Abdalla of Jordon is known to be in pocket of the CIA, just like his father (rumor has it he's not trust worthy inside the Arab league circles)...and SA is known of where loyalties lie. Don't believe what you read sparky.

no Arab ruler would allow them to launch attacks from or through their territory. Not even King Abdalla.

Don't believe every bullshit disinformation campaign you hear, tough guy.

I do not believe any of it.

then to the Jerusalem Post, Reuters, AP and then I heard that oil prices jumped because of fears that Israel was in Iraq preparing an attack against Iraq.

Something about this story just ain't right.

this is a rev moon news organization......

The temperatures begin to cool down over there in October, just in time for the inevitable ground battle that would take place in Iraq after bombing Iran.