CLINTON CABINET MEMBER: LET IRAQ SHOOT DOWN A U-2

A US Air Force U-2R high altitude surveillance aircraft takes off from forward-deployed location supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

General Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during parts of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, has a new memoir out that contains this anecdote: Back in the late 1990s, Shelton says a member of Clinton’s cabinet asked him to allow Saddam Hussein to shoot down an American plane over Iraq as a pretext for starting a war. The way Shelton tells the story, this was a serious request.

Remember, the context here is the Clinton Administration’s years of trying to overthrow Saddam — including in a little-remembered 1996 CIA coup attempt. In December 1998 (most likely after the request was made to Shelton), Clinton bombed Iraq for four days in Operation Desert Fox, which Clinton said was a response to Saddam’s lack of cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors.


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WHEN THE IZZYs FLY THE STRIKE

IAF B707 refueling Israeli F-15s


This story exploded all over the 'Net today:

Would the U.S. Shoot Down an Israeli Jet? Top Officer Won’t Say




April 20, 2010

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- In a town hall on the campus of the University of West Virginia, a young Air Force ROTC cadet asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to respond to a “rumor.” If Israel decided to attack Iran, the speculation went, those jet would need to fly through Iraqi airspace to reach their targets. That airspace is considered a “no-fly” zone by the American military. So might U.S. troops shoot down the Israeli jets, the airmen asked the chairman, if they breached that airspace?

Mullen tried to sidestep the question.


Read it all here


Here's the STORMBRINGER take: This non-answer does not necessarily imply that the United States will take drastic measures against our Israeli allies. The man is being as politically correct and tactfully discreet as possible - and though I ordinarily find the PC mindset repugnant, in this case Admiral Mullen must choose his words very carefully because he represents the military arm of the United States government.

Americans serving in Iraq have been on the receiving end of Iranian rockets smuggled to militants in Iraq for years. Iranian EFPs have also killed a number of Americans. I am certain of two things: there are American servicemen & women who would hesitate when given an order to fire upon Israeli targets - particularly enroute to bomb Iran; and the Command I'm sure is contemplating this scenario.

The sad fact of the matter is we had our opportunity to smash the Iranian Fundamentalist Islamic Revolution in it's infancy and we hesitated - or should I say Jimmy Carter hesitated. The ball was in his court and he balked. IF the day after our embassy was taken down on November 4, 1979, the 82D had jumped on to Tehran Airport and moved on the city . . . well, we wouldn't be having half the problems we're having with these people now.

But instead we've got what we've got going on now, and this thing is going to go on for the next hundred years.


- Sean Linnane


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