Chronology of week to be remembered http://www.watch.org/showart.php3?idx=155438&rtn=&showsubj=1&mcat=24 Sunday, Sept. 9: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the sanctions aren’t
slowing Iran’s nuclear advances “because it doesn’t see a clear red line from
the international community.”
Netanyahu said that “the sooner we establish [red lines], the greater the
chances that there won’t be a need for other types of action,” i.e., military
action.
Sunday, Sept. 9: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Bloomberg: The U.S. is “not setting deadlines” for Iran and still considers
negotiations as “by far the best approach” to prevent Iran from developing
nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday.
Asked if the Obama administration will lay out sharper “red lines” for Iran
or explicitly state the consequences of failing to negotiate a deal with world
powers by a certain date, Clinton said, “We’re not setting deadlines.”
“We’re watching very carefully about what they do, because it’s always been
more about their actions than their words,” Clinton said in the interview with
Bloomberg Radio after meetings at an Asia-Pacific forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
——
Monday, Sept. 10: White House spokesman Jay Carney
White House spokesman Jay Carney said in his daily news briefing, when
questioned about Israel’s desire for deadlines: “It is not fruitful as part of
this process to engage in that kind of specificity.”
—–
Tuesday, Sept. 11: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
CBS: In an interview with Norah O’Donnell on “CBS This Morning,” Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta insisted the U.S. has a very clear red line. “When they
make the decision to go ahead and build a nuclear weapon, that, for us, is a red
light,” Panetta said.
Panetta also said U.S. intelligence would likely know when that decision was
made. After that, the U.S. military would have about a year in which to mount a
strike that could stop Iran from actually building a weapon.
—-
Tuesday, Sept. 11: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The
world tells Israel: ‘Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say: ‘Wait for what? Wait
until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines
before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu told his cabinet that Obama doesn’t have time
to meet with him during his late September trip to the United States.
Shortly thereafter, a tragic terror event happened at the U.S. embassy in
Libya, and the U.S. embassy in Cairo was broken into. Al Qaeda is reported to be
connected to both events. U.S. embassies worldwide were put under 24-hour watch,
and two warships were sent to the Libyan Coast, with no apologies from the
Egyptian President Morsi.
Tuesday evening, Sept. 11: Obama’s late-night phone call with Netanyahu
for damage control
Fox News: The White House said that Obama had just gotten off an hour-long
phone call with the prime minister “as a part of their ongoing consultations,”
and that the two discussed the Iranian nuclear threat.
The unusual statement from the White House signaled that the President’s team
was acting quickly to contain the controversy. The seemingly chilly response to
Netanyahu was already being interpreted as a snub among Israel’s biggest
defenders — and it comes amidst a state of heightened alert over Iran’s nuclear
program and the possibility of Israeli action.
Side note: Obama’s treatment of Netanyahu could cost him many Jewish votes in
the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. (Obama received 78 percent of the Jewish
vote in the 2008 Presidential election.)
The Jewish vote could very likely be the key to winning key states such as
Florida and Ohio for Electoral College wins in the 2012 U.S. Presidential
election.
Tuesday, Sept. 11: The 2011 Libyan war – Obama and Clinton’s doing
US ambassador killed at US embassy/Libya; US embassy attacked in Cairo,
brother of No. 2 at Al Qaeda involved; looking into 9-11 connection
Fox News: U.S. officials are investigating whether the murder Tuesday of the
U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American officials
was a “coordinated” strike timed for the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks — and not the result of a protest against an anti-Islam film. Current
and former U.S. lawmakers, and others, claimed Wednesday that the attack looked
like a coordinated strike.
Hoekstra noted that Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri had recently released a
video calling on militants to attack Americans in revenge for the killing of an
operative in Pakistan. The message said his “blood is calling on you, inciting
you to fight and kill the crusaders.”
Hoekstra said the film may have been just a cover to carry out such an
attack.
London-based think tank Quilliam reached the same conclusion, saying the
Benghazi strike appeared to be a “well-planned terrorist attack that would have
occurred regardless of the demonstration (over the film).”
Also, the brother of Zawahri was nearby during the separate protest at the
American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday.
——
Wednesday, Sept. 12: Jerusalem official accuses White House of lying about
requested Netanyahu-Obama meeting
The Israeli government on Wednesday accused the White House of lying by
denying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had requested to meet U.S.
President Barack Obama later this month in the U.S.
“We requested a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New
York and also suggested that the prime minister could come to Washington” for a
meeting, a senior government official in Jerusalem told the German DPA news
agency on Wednesday.
Wednesday, Sept. 12: Two U.S. warships headed to Libya after deadly
consulate attack
U.S. officials say the Pentagon is moving two warships to the Libyan coast in
the aftermath of the attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador and
three others.
Officials say one destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the
coast Wednesday, and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the
coast within days. The officials say the ships, which carry Tomahawk missiles,
do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond
to any mission ordered by the President.
Wednesday, Sept. 12: Israel Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon
Israel Hayom: The telephone conversation between Obama and Netanyahu after
midnight on Tuesday was, according to an Israeli source, “long [and] frank, and
dealt with all of the essential issues.”
Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon also touched on the matter of issuing clear red
lines to Iran, saying Wednesday:
“The United States has outlined a red line that the Iranians are happy with.
There have been arguments with the Americans in the past as well, as was the
case during Operation Defensive Shield [Israel’s large-scale military operation
in 2002 during the course of the Second Intifada] when they asked [former Prime
Minister] Ariel Sharon to halt the operation and only later understood it was
the right thing to do.”
—–
Thursday, Sept. 13: Former CIA Director Hayden
Newsmax: Former CIA Director Hayden: Obama ‘broke it, owns it’ on Libya
Violent protests in Libya that claimed the life of the U.S. ambassador were
the result of President Obama’s decision to intervene in the Libyan revolt
without a “deep appreciation” for what would follow, former CIA Director Michael
Hayden tells Newsmax.
Hayden, a former four-star Air Force general, was appointed CIA director by
President George W. Bush in 2006 and served until 2009.
“Here’s a case where we went into Libya for reasons that seemed very powerful
for some people at the time, almost all of them in Tehran, perhaps without a
true or deep appreciation for what the secondary and tertiary effects of
overthrowing [Libyan ruler Moammar] Gadhafi would be.
Thursday, Sept. 13: President Barack Obama
Fox News: President Barack Obama didn’t intend to signal any change in the
U.S.-Egypt relationship last night when he said Egypt is not an “ally,” the
White House told The Cable today.
In an interview with Telemundo Wednesday night, Obama said that the U.S.
relationship with the new Egyptian government was a “work in progress,” and
emphasized that the United States is counting on the government of Egypt to
better protect the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, which was attacked by protesters on
Sept. 11.
“I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider
them an enemy,” Obama said. “They’re a new government that is trying to find its
way. They were democratically elected. I think that we are going to have to see
how they respond to this incident.”
Thursday, Sept. 13: Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood website demands that West criminalize ‘assaults’ on Islam
Times of Israel: Statement condemns violence against U.S. interests, says
free speech should not extend to acts of ‘barbaric aggression’ that humiliate
all Muslims.
Without the “criminalization of assaults on the sanctities of all heavenly
religions,” the Muslim Brotherhood warned on Thursday, insults to Islam “will
continue to cause devout Muslims across the world to suspect and even loathe the
West, especially the USA.”
The remarks were part of a statement posted on the English-language web-site
of the Brotherhood in response to a trailer for a new film, which the Egyptian
ruling party says is insulting to Islam.
According to the statement, “one and a half billion Muslims [were] subjected
to humiliation and abuse in the person of their leader, Mohammed, the Messenger
of God, the Prophet of Islam,” due to the film.
—
Friday, September 14: New Middle East crisis enters fourth day;
Expert: ‘Obama is hostage to [Egyptian President] Morsi’
Daily Caller: Experts say that Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi,
has the ability and incentive to raise or lower the Arab street’s pressure
against President Barack Obama.
“Obama is hostage to Morsi,” said Michael Rubin, an Arab-region expert at the
American Enterprise Institute.
“But part of the reason is that Obama refuses to make Morsi hostage to him,”
Rubin added.
This puts Obama in a politically dangerous position as he attempts to bring
the spreading embassy crisis under control before November’s election.