Has somebody told SecDef Mattis that John Bolton believes himself to be another Patton? Bolton does not have a strategic bone in his body or a military cell in his brain. So what has he been doing in Israel conferring with IDF on a plan to jointly waste the IRGC in Syria and Iraq? And that's not his job at NSC, anyhow. Hello, President Trump, that's what you have a military for.
Now just see, there are downsides to making a real estate developer the U.S. Commander in Chief. Well, the last one was a community organizer, so from one angle Trump is a step up. But again, the CiC is supposed to be commanding the armed forces, not using State Dept. types as military officers.
All right. Here's the latest from the laptop bombardiers at DEBKAfile:
"Breaking News"
August 23, 2018 - 20:27
Exclusive: The pro-Iranian Iraqi Khatib Hezballah Shiite militia was heavily bombed on Thursday, Aug. 23 on the Syrian-Iraqi highway near the eastern Syrian town of Abu Kamal, our military sources report. On Monday, we were first to reveal that US National Security adviser John Bolton had this week discussed with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a possible joint military operation by the US and Israel against Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Al Qods Brigades in the Middle East, and the pro-Iranian Shiite proxy militias in Syria.
The Iraqi militia hit on Thursday belonged to Soleimani’s forces in that country. The attack took place as Bolton sat down with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushov in Geneva, and was presumably meant to warn Moscow that the US was serious about military action for ousting Iranian forces from Syria.
Bolton said later that they had discussed a “series of steps” for removing Iran’s military presence from Syria. Patrushev said nothing had been decided in their talks.
Three months ago, on June 18, the Israeli air force bombed another Iraqi militia concentration, this one at Deir ez-Zour not far from the Syrian-Iraqi border.
[END REPORT]
Okay; I didn't see the Wed report but here's the one from Monday:
Bolton’s Israel visit rounds off US, Israeli readiness matched by Iran for a showdown in Syria
Aug 20, 2018 @ 8:21
DEBKAfile
On Aug. 19, the day US National Security Adviser John Bolton landed in Israel, Tehran announced the appointment of a new Iranian air force chief.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report exclusively that Bolton’s brief visit for two conversations with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was his first trip to Israel in his capacity as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. His mission was to coordinate a military operation between the US and Israel to counter the Iranian military presence in Syria.
The US official said frankly, “Obviously we’ve got great challenges for Israel for the United States and the whole world,” he said on arrival, “The Iranian nuclear weapons program [and] the ballistic missile programs are right at the top of the list.” Netanyahu homed in on Israel’s role when he said, “Rolling back Iran’s aggression in the Middle East” – meaning Syria – topped the agenda of this meetings with Bolton.
According to our sources, strategists in Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran appear to share the common assessment that the coming military showdown will consist mostly of aerial and air defense combat. It will therefore be shouldered primarily by Israel’s air force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Nurkin and Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, whom supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed this week as Iran’s new air force chief and who, like his Israeli counterpart, also bears responsibility for air defenses.
A parallel to Bolton’s visit to Israel may be found in Mike Pompeo’s talks in Israel last June shortly after his appointment as US Secretary of State. His departure was followed immediately with a round of Israel air strikes on Iranian military targets deep inside Syria, including most notably the bombardment on June 18 of the Iraqi Shiite Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in eastern Syria near Deir ez-Zour.
From Tel Aviv, the US national security adviser flew to Geneva to meet his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev. Their conversation was a sequel to the discussion on Iran’s military presence in Syria that was broached by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their Helsinki summit on July 16.
[END REPORT]
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According to our sources, strategists in Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran appear to share the common assessment that the coming military showdown will consist mostly of aerial and air defense combat. It will therefore be shouldered primarily by Israel’s air force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Nurkin and Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, whom supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed this week as Iran’s new air force chief and who, like his Israeli counterpart, also bears responsibility for air defenses.
A parallel to Bolton’s visit to Israel may be found in Mike Pompeo’s talks in Israel last June shortly after his appointment as US Secretary of State. His departure was followed immediately with a round of Israel air strikes on Iranian military targets deep inside Syria, including most notably the bombardment on June 18 of the Iraqi Shiite Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in eastern Syria near Deir ez-Zour.
From Tel Aviv, the US national security adviser flew to Geneva to meet his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev. Their conversation was a sequel to the discussion on Iran’s military presence in Syria that was broached by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their Helsinki summit on July 16.
[END REPORT]
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