Then, after Israel bomb, bomb, bombs Iran, the Iranian Army may retaliate against U.S. ground forces in Iraq.

If that happens, it would bringing the U.S. fully in to the conflict. Possibly, culminating in a dire strategic decision. Do we stand by while our more than 100,000 troops there come under threat of a Dien Bien Phu like catastrophe or, do we use tactical nukes against the Iranians?

Looks to me like they have decided that there is little chance that they will be able to do it themselves. Instead they have opted to farm it out to Israel to commit national suicide for both of us.

Has anyone else noticed how the President and his people are so quiet? Listen to what they are not saying. They did not attend the Republican Convention, the hurricane was their excuse. Have we ever, in all of history, had a sitting President not attend his party's convention? When a person is extrordinarily quiet, that person is usually getting ready to act. I think Iran will be attacked in the very near future, probably before the elections. It will be a set up. Terrorism that Iran gets blamed for, but they will be innocent.

And this post is evidence liberal fear-mongering lives.

Er......BrookD?

The report about Syrian commandos invading Tripoli is exciting, but the sole source is Debkafile.

As for your exhortations for Nasrallah to send his warriors into the area, I'm afraid that's impossible. You see, Tripoli is a Sunni stronghold with a minority population of Alawites.

Hezbollah has no presence in northern Lebanon and Nasrallah isn't so stupid as to invade the the territory during reconciliation talks among Lebanon's various factions. Tripoli has been the locale of much sectarian violence of late; most Lebanese factions agree that much of it is designed to derail the efforts at unification.

You see, there are certain foreign interests that don't want a unified Lebanon; they being the Saudis, Israel and US. It's not in Hezbollah's interests to intervene in Tripoli. That's the task of the Lebanese Army.

By the way, guess which country did not want Syria to withdraw from Lebanon? It was Israel. Israel was perfectly fine with the status quo. From the Israeli perspective, it was "better the devil you know" than the uncertainty of that silly "Beirut Spring" democracy business.

BTW, that's also the Israeli position on prospects of regime change in Syria.

As for the supplying of the bunkerbusters to Israel, one shouldn't assume they are destined for use in Iran. It could be that Lebanon is the target as promised by various Israeli poobahs in the fairly recent past. This concluding sentence from the Haaretz article suggests as much:

"Israel will also receive 28,000 LAW
(Light Anti-Tank Weapon) tube launchers for land forces."

Then again, there could be a 2-fer or 3-fer if Syria is included.

Bombs by themselves mean nothing without access codes, permission to fly over Iraq, and the capability to refuel, etc. Although, these particular bombs would make an attack on Iran easier. There is also the issue of missile defense systems to consider. Watch for the deployment of Patriots and the AN/TPY-2 forward-based X-band radar system in the Negev (soon). US deployments of naval assets to the region are also key.

This article from Arutz Sheva sketches out some of the challenges re an Israeli attack on Iran:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127576

More on the challenges from Pat Lang:
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2008/09/ask-the-iraqi-g.html

Permission to transit Iraq supposedly is Maliki's call. But the truth is, the Iraqis would have no way to counter an Israeli incursion.

BTW, back in July, Admiral Mike Mullen warned his Israeli counterparts against another USS Liberty "mistake" ie a casus belli.

Friday, Russian President Medvedev said; "We know that certain players are planning an attack against Iran"

and so on.....

jdledell.

One of the advantages of these "state of the art" small smart bombs is their size, allowing more to be carried. There are others, of course:

"The Small Smart Bomb is a 250 pound weapon that has the same penetration capabilities as a 2000lb BLU-109, but with only 50 pounds of explosive."
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb.htm

Mr. Rosenberg, please, please ask your friends at J Street to oppose this sale vociferously so we can show them to be the fools they truly are. As soon as they oppose it, they will meet the same fate as Breirah.

I am neither a dolt or a Nazi. My final solution to the Palestenian problem is the same two-state deal that the weasel rejected in January, 2001 at Taba. Hopefully President Obama will ask Ambassador Ross and Special Envoy Bill Clinton to put it before Abbas and pressure the Saudis, the Egyptians and all of the other Arabs to force Hamas to take it.

BrooknotatrollD.

Update to your Debkafile info on Syrian commandos in northern Lebanon.

As to be expected, Lebanon is denying that any such thing is happening. The incursion is said to be in the Alawite villages in the area which would make sense as Alawites have Syrian ties and Assad, tho secular, is of Alawite lineage.

Apparently, there is reason to hope that Debkafile is correct.

Lebanon has been hard pressed to deal with the growing presence of hardend Sunni Salafist AQ terrorist types who have been infiltrating into Lebanon. These worse-of-the-worst jihadis consider Israel/Israelis as their #1 enemy with Hezbollah as #2 and UNIFIL Crusaders as #3. Palestinian refugee camps are particularily vulnerable:

" Europe would accept a Syrian military operation in north Lebanon to crack dawn Islamist fundamentalist groups, Lebanese daily ad-Diyar reported Monday.

The report said that for the first time, the European intelligence services have discussed the presence of fundamentalist groups in north Lebanon and considered their threat.

"The areas in the north, from Tripoli to Danyieh and Akkar, have become a fundamentalist base with tens of thousands of fighters in an area inhabited by 700,000 Sunnis," the report added.

The report also said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana have told some Arab countries that if the situation breaks up in north Lebanon, Europe would accept a Syrian military operation in coordination with the Lebanese army to go 40 km inside Lebanon to crack down Islamist fighters which are more than 3,000 strong there.

A Jordanian security source told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday that al-Qaida representatives are present in Lebanon and are recruiting Palestinians in the refugee camps.

The threat of Islamist in north Lebanon is mounting, especially in poor and neglected Sunni areas where fundamentalist operatives have a safe haven and can recruit more supporters."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/15/content_10019959.htm

Pragmatically speaking, the Syrians partnered with the Lebanese Army would be the most effective forces to deal with these threats.

Hezbollah's control over southern Lebanon has thus far kept these elements pretty much confined to the volatile Palestinian Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near Israel's northern border. Today, it's reported that a fellow allied with the "Jund al-Sham group which follows the extremist ideology of al-Qaida, was shot Monday as he sat in his father's clothes shop in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp."

Asassins unknown.