Free Republic

DUBAI/ADEN/LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and a drone assault on an American destroyer on Thursday, and they targeted Israel’s port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones. The statement by a Houthi representative on social media site X came shortly after the group’s leader said it was ramping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters – including with new “submarine weapons” -to mirror Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

McCain began his answer by changing the words to a popular Beach Boys song"'Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,' he sang to the tune of Barbara Ann.

The U.S. State Department has ordered "non-emergency U.S. government employees" to leave its embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil. "The U.S. government's ability to provide routine and emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq is extremely limited," the department said in statement early Wednesday. It has also warned citizens about traveling to Iraq. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Sunday tweeted that it was advising "all U.S. citizens of heightened tensions in Iraq and the requirement to remain vigilant."

[SNIP]Saudi Arabia's government donated $1 million to a nonprofit that has ties to Sen. John McCain, according to federal tax filings obtained by ABC15. [SNIP] Foreign campaign contributions to political candidates are prohibited, according to the Federal Election Commission.

'This is what they have to show for 30 years of missile development? Even Hezbollah can do better' Israeli analyst says security sources ‘amazed’ at poor performance: 3 missiles fell in Iraq, and only one hit its target Iran’s much-vaunted missile strike on Islamic State targets in Syria late Sunday was a flop, with six of the seven medium-range missiles it fired failing to hit their target, Israeli sources said Monday. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country’s missile program, said it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan....

Iranian exile to ‘Post’: Israel, Iran should become allies after regime falls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGPw_LBiRA

The Iranian nuclear program has hit with a severe case of heavy metal. Al Arabiya reports that technicians at two of Iran's secret nuclear facilities were startled in the middle of the night when their computer consoles started blaring AC/DC's classic metal hit "Thunderstruck" at full volume.

Iran is ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq, its armed forces chief of staff has said, a week after the exit of US forces from their neighbour. General Hassan Firouzabadi hailed the "forced departure" of the US and allied forces that he said "was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government," the state Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The statements were made in messages Gen Firouzabadi sent to his Iraqi counterpart, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, and to Iraq's acting defence minister, Saadun al-Dulaimi, IRNA said. The departure of the US troops...

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that the United States can successfully attack Iran, if necessary. His biggest worry is that Iran will "miscalculate our resolve. Dempsey, speaking to CNN during a worldwide tour, spoke one day after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that the American government will not allow Iran to produce a nuclear weapon. He said that if Iran continues to enrich high-grade uranium, it could produce a nuclear weapon within a year, an estimate formerly given by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "My biggest worry is they [Iran] will miscalculate...

snip American allies, such as Israel, are similarly nervous about the precipitous departure. A weak and America-less Iraq will have demonstrably negative consequences for Israel’s security environment. First, no country with an American military presence has attacked Israel. U.S. forces stationed in Turkey, Egypt, and the Gulf States have deterred or prevented those states from embarking on military action. In fact, the presence of U.S. forces has generally signaled the strategic orientation of those countries, first as anti-Soviet and now as anti-Iranian. snip Overall, the American withdrawal from Iraq portends ill for Israel. Iranian domination of Iraq is likely to...

The CIA and the U.S. military may have a serious security flaw to deal with if an Iranian engineer's story proves to be true. Speaking to Christian Science Monitor (CSM), he detailed how a team of specialists from his country hacked into a U.S. spy drone's GPS navigator in order to capture it. That's the same one the U.S. government claimed has landed in Iran's territory in early December due to a malfunction. The Iranian specialists reportedly figured out that the RQ-170 Sentinel's weakest point is its GPS by examining previously downed American drones back in September. Using this...

Courting Jewish Voters, Obama Says 'No Options Off Table' On Iran By Peter Nicholas December 16, 2011 President Obama can't show enough love for the Jewish vote – er, community. With his approval rating among Jews down 20 points from his showing in the 2008 election -- and with Republicans eager to exploit Jewish anxieties about Obama's commitment to Israel -- the president isn't passing up many chances these days to proclaim that he's a loyal friend of the Jewish state. On Friday, he spoke to the Union for Reform Judaism and maintained that his administration has done right by...

President Barack Obama launched into a passionate defense of his policy on Israel, accusing critics of distorting the facts on his Middle East record. Again. Obama, speaking at a Union for Reform Judaism event in Maryland, doubled-down on his record, saying that no administration has done more in support of Israel’s security. “Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, it is a fact,” the president said. “America's commitment and my commitment to Israel and Israel’s security is unshakeable -- It is unshakeable." “As president, I have never wavered in pursuit of a just and lasting peace -- two states, two...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-3xeP7NFRE&feature=share&fb_source=message

BERLIN – Rising criticism from prominent German- Iranians, NGOs and the federal commissioner for culture and media prompted an elite cultural foundation on Tuesday to eject Iran’s acting Deputy Foreign Minister Mostafa Dolatyar from its board of trustees because he called for the destruction of Israel. According to a report in Iran’s Mahan News in 2010, Dolatyar said, “We hope that the prophecy of the Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] regarding the downfall of this regime [Israel] will occur very soon and that we will witness it.” A spokesman for Bernd Neumann, Germany’s federal culture commissioner, told The Jerusalem Post that...

Energy Policy: The same administration that says we can and should get oil from the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is blocking a bridge needed to get it to market on environmental grounds. In his May 14 weekly radio address, President Obama called for annual lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA), not necessarily out of any conviction that increased domestic energy supply is good for prices and national security, but basically to perpetuate the myth that the oil companies refuse to drill in leased or leasable areas. While he restricts oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and...

Seems an explosion rocked Iranian city Isfahan that houses that nation’s uranium conversion facility on Monday. Hmm. Big hmm. Capitalized, italicized and boldfaced HMM. From the New York Daily News: “The government of Isfahan denied reports that the explosion was linked to the nuclear site, saying it was part of a military drill north of the city.” That excuse is so weak that I think Baghdad Bob either moved to Iran or has a cousin Tehran Terry. From the New York Daily News: “One of the first reports of the blast came from Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, according to...

<p>“We face the threats from rising powers — China, India, others — that we have to always have sufficient force protection out there in the Pacific to make sure they know we’re never going anywhere,” Mr. Panetta said during a visit to a shipyard in Groton, Conn., where he toured a submarine, the Mississippi, in the final stages of construction.</p>