barak beats war drum, obama marches

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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been in the U.S. for at least the last two days to organize for war against Syria and Iran, according to U.S. sources and contacts close to Israeli opposition circles. 

While Barak is addressing liberal groups, the American Jewish "war party" is on a simultaneous super offensive to scare the hell out of US war opponents, with full-page ads accusing Obama of using Israel "like a punching bag." 

 Barak is meeting with Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and a number of other unnamed "military and intelligence officials." 

The number one purpose of the trip is to try to destroy the U.S. military and other institutional resistance to military action against Iran and Syria. 

Before he left Israel on Wednesday, Barak told Israel's Army Radio that "A host of issues on the agenda will be discussed. Iran's [nuclear program] will obviously take center stage," and the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that high level Israel officials have stated that "Barak's frequent trips to Washington are more than likely meant to coordinate efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions with the Americans." 

 On Dec. 14, Barak spoke at the liberal Union of Reform Judaism in North America's biennial conference, and met with liberal groups. 

At one event, Barak announced that Syria's Bashar al Assad "will be out of power by Passover," in April, 2012. 

 The Barak trip is moving on two tracks, reports a well-informed Jewish activist with links to the Israeli opposition: war discussion on Iran, where Barak is hammering on the nuclear weapons danger; at the same time, he is here to bring the liberal Jewish factions into line and quell Jewish-American criticism of Israel. 

The Netanyahu Israelis are very concerned that the American Jews are critical of the Netanyahu government, so they are being politically preemptive in keeping the different organizations in line, such as the Reform Jewish community. 

Speaking to the Reform Judaism conferees, Barak played his early relationship with slain Labor Party Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, who was killed by an Israeli settler fanatic, and said that Israel is and will always be a "Jewish {and} democratic state." 

 At the same time, the "war party" is on a total offensive. * An organization called the Emergency Committee on Israel (ECI) took out full page ads on December 16 in the New York Times, the Miami Herald, and other major U.S. newspapers. 

Under the title, "Why Does the Obama Administration Treat Israel like a Punching Bag?" with a photo of a ragged punching bag decorated with a Star of David, the ad attacks Hillary Clinton for questioning "Israel's democracy," attacks Panetta for blaming "Israel for the failure of talks with the Palestinians," attacks Obama and Sarkozy for bad-mouthing Netanyahu at a European summit meeting. 

The chairman of the ECI group is none other than Bill Kristol."The pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel organizations in America are punching back!" Kristol declared. 

 * Obama's intimate, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, told the annual conference of the ultra-right Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations annual meeting on December 14, that "what Israel faces daily at the UN is obsessive... It's ugly. It's bad for the UN. It's bad for peace. And it must stop." Quoting Obama, Rice, the warmonger idealogue of the "humanitarian intervention" doctrine, R2P, that killed Libyan President Qadaffi, pledged "unshakeable opposition" to any "efforts to chip away at Israel's legitimacy." 

The conference gave Rice its annual National Service Award for her work on behalf of Israel at the UN. Rice also gave a list of the "record-breaking" cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli military, and increased "military financing to record levels." 

She also pledged that the U.S. will prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons." 

 * Neo-con theologian Max Boot is writing daily articles in Commentary on Syria. On Dec. 15, he praised Barak for now joining the effort to topple Bashar al-Assad. Critical to this effort, Boot says, is for the Obama administration to finance and support the armed rebels in Syria.