Crossfire War – Admiral Fallon Forced to Resign – Opposition to War with Iran

Crossfire War – RAPID FIRE NEWS=TEHRAN – BAGHDAD – DAMASCUS WATCH – West Asia – North – Northeast Africa Theatre: Tehran – Riyadh – Tripoli – Khartoum – El Arish – Nablus – Gaza – Beirut – Damascus/Washington – London – Paris – Rome – Jerusalem – Cairo – Amman; US CENTCOM Commander Admiral William Fallon Forced to Resign – Opposes Full Scale War with Iran – Psychology of Unreality – Israel DM Barak States Nation Ready to Confront Offensive Threats Within 900 Mile (1,500 km) Radius – No Palestinian Administration Worth Negotiating With in Gaza or West Bank

Night Watch: WASHINGTON – U. S. Admiral William Fallon, CENTCOM (Central Command) commander was forced to resign yesterday due to differences with the administration of President George W. Bush over Admiral Fallon’s opposing (f)allout war with Iran. Fallon had been appointed CENTCOM commander in March 2007, which directs U. S. forces in West Asia, and from the Esquire magazine article and wire services he seems to have spent most of his time arguing with the administration and Pentagon leadership. I suspect the reason being Fallon’s state of mind which must have convinced him that somehow Bin Laden can arrange flight school training instead of realizing it is Tehran that controls al-Qaeda and conducted the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Obviously that mental paralysis caused Fallon to blackout the realization it was Tehran but knowing how insulated officials in high leadership positions can become, especially when they are supposed to be all powerful, Fallon must have convinced himself sometime ago no government would ever dare attack the World Trade Center in New York or his office in the Pentagon. [ALJAZEERA]

This should not be to surprising since Fallon spent his more than forty year career under the mythological, programmed indoctrination of the Soviet Union-Cold War threat and has since the Cold War ended he assumed no other country or group of nations would ever be any serious threat and any current enemy could be as easily defeated as in the arranged 1990-91 Gulf War. He must have blacked out the real reason for the Gulf War which was shown on CNN the day after the Gulf War ended with Saddam Hussein still in Baghdad, the London branch office of the engineering concern invited to Iran after the damage done to Iraq’s military. The engineering firm, headquarted in San Francisco constructed bases for Iran, similar to the subterranean facilities they built for Saudi Arabia during the 1980s and when the Iranian work was completed Saddam Hussein was removed in 2003, and the trap of Iraq begins. The implications of these enormously corrupt decisions, made by the highest level of Anglo-American corporate-banking society, was obviously lost somewhere in the recesses of Fallon’s subconscious. So he convinced himself the war on terror and the enemy’s central command was somewhere on the Pakistan-Afghan border and not in Tehran or Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf the headquarters of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Pentagon – Debka reports he has often declared full scale war with Iran would not happen on “my watch” as if he was in control of events including Tehran’s foreign policy and timetable. Perhaps he was just trying to boldly express a false hope and I admit he was not by himself in the defense and foreign policy establishments of Washington, the West and Russia. But unlike Fallon there were those in those same government – intelligence circles who knew it was Iran that conducted 9/11 but they hoped some deal with Iran could be made and (f)allout war would be avoided. But since 2005 it has finally dawned on the Allies Tehran used the deceptive negotiations to continue its production of nuclear warheads and the ballistic missiles that can carry them to targets beyond West Asia into Europe and India in support of Pakistan. And in a parallel policy Tehran continues to increase the military strength of Syria-Hezbollah-Hamas and still maintains major support for Islamic groups fighting Washington and NATO in Iraq/Afghanistan. Fallon has failed completely to make that realization. He even had an interview with Al Jazeera, as if he was trying to get some message across which was does not indicate sound thinking. Military leaders should not engage in media blitzes. [DEBKA]

This is why, at times like this, times of a very real war that is about to become worse in today’s present, the psychology of leadership is of crucial strategic importance. The last thing Washington needs is a military commander in a constant state of denial of the obvious. Or if you admit the inevitable you approach it unprofessionally which is why I wonder about the psychology and the level of maturity of Senator John McCain quite possibly the next President. At a recent gathering he actually asked his audience to remember the Beach Boys song Barbara Ann and that now it sounds like Bomb Iran. There is a news clip of Senator McCain actually saying, even singing that. Concerning the next generation of leadership, represented by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, it is obvious the level of psychological unreality is being handed down to posterity. None of them can realize how ridiculous and disgusting they all are.

Fallon will be replaced by his Deputy Commander Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey at the end of March.

Gaza Division – Fortunately Israel’s leadership is successfully confronting the regional war reality on the ground and from every direction of the compass. Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated, when asked about Hezbollah and other immediate threats, “We are still the most powerful country in a 1,500 km (900 mile) radius from Jerusalem and we are…prepared on all fronts. We can definitely expect that some will try to hurt Israel on that front.” In other words from any direction within that range which covers not only neighboring countries but also parts of Libya-Saudi Arabia-Sudan-Iran.[JPOST]

Jerusalem Post reports the Defense Minister was touring the northern brigade of Israel Defense Force (IDF) Gaza Division accompanied by Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, OC Southern Command Major-General Yoav Galant and OC Gaza Division Brigadier General Moshe Tamir. Concerning the Palestinian Authority (PA) under Mahmoud Abbas and the prospects for any serious peace or “calm” Barak observed he cannot take the PA seriously, “There isn’t an ability so far to establish a law enforcement system, a government, security and a will to succeed in fighting terror.” He mentioned Israel had made “supreme” efforts in hoping Abbas could accomplish those aims and now that hope is over. That is why I have often characterized the Palestinian community as a fragmentation grenade which is something a lot of them are quite proud of whether they are attacking Israel/Egypt/Jordan/Lebanon or each other.

On the subject of Hamas and Palestinian militants in Gaza-West Bank Barak elaborated, “Continued combat in Gaza will bring an escalation beyond what we have seen so far, before we reach a period of calm. We are not in a state of calm with Hamas; we are in ongoing activity meant to stop Qassam fire. There is no change in what we are doing. What awaits us here is further operations and the soldiers will need to be prepared again for action in order to win this issue.” It has been mentioned recently Israel expects heavy fighting in the last half of March. March 22-23 will be the end of the Muslim forty day period of mourning Hezbollah may be waiting for since the Iranian staged assassination of Hezbollah official Imad Mughniyeh Feb. 12 that they accuse Israel of conducting.

Willard Payne is an international affairs analyst who specializes in International Relations. A graduate of Western Illinois University with a concentration in East-West Trade and East-West Industrial Cooperation, he has been providing incisive analysis to NewsBlaze. He is the author of Imagery: The Day Before.