BOP
Well-Known Member
JERUSALEM, June 4, 2013 — For all its ineptitude, the Obama administration has proven itself capable of closing ranks where lies and cover-ups are concerned. The three major scandals in which it is currently embroiled – Benghazi, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service – are the most major cases in point, but other examples abound.
Such fiascos aside, Israel has been counting on Washington’s penchant for the “covert” these days, as Iran sails towards nuclear armament and the rest of the Middle East is in the throes of radicalization. Though U.S, Secretary of State John Kerry keeps making trips to the region to pressure Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiate a two-state solution, the assumption on the part of those who believe that the White House “has Israel’s back” is that there is much behind-the-scenes military cooperation going on that we don’t know about.
Imagine Israel’s dismay, then, when Uncle Sam pulled a stunt of truth and transparency this week at the worst possible juncture for the Jewish state.
As was reported by McClatchy’s Sheera Frenkel on Monday, the Israeli defense establishment is in an uproar over U.S. government revelations of an American-Israeli project that was supposed to be kept top-secret.
Israel’s outrage is warranted.
The project is a U.S.-funded installation located at an undisclosed location between Jerusalem and Ashdod for Israel’s Arrow 3 ballistic-missile defense system.
Details of the installation, whose cost is estimated at $25 million, were posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site to attract bidding contractors, a process called “routine” by Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Wesley Miller.
Routine or not, it was unthinkable for the U.S. Defense Department to publicize more than 1,000 pages of the most minute details of a system whose success rests, among other things, on being totally hidden from enemy eyes.
Read more: How the Obama Administration dealt a blow to Israeli missile defense | Washington Times Communities
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
Such fiascos aside, Israel has been counting on Washington’s penchant for the “covert” these days, as Iran sails towards nuclear armament and the rest of the Middle East is in the throes of radicalization. Though U.S, Secretary of State John Kerry keeps making trips to the region to pressure Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiate a two-state solution, the assumption on the part of those who believe that the White House “has Israel’s back” is that there is much behind-the-scenes military cooperation going on that we don’t know about.
Imagine Israel’s dismay, then, when Uncle Sam pulled a stunt of truth and transparency this week at the worst possible juncture for the Jewish state.
As was reported by McClatchy’s Sheera Frenkel on Monday, the Israeli defense establishment is in an uproar over U.S. government revelations of an American-Israeli project that was supposed to be kept top-secret.
Israel’s outrage is warranted.
The project is a U.S.-funded installation located at an undisclosed location between Jerusalem and Ashdod for Israel’s Arrow 3 ballistic-missile defense system.
Details of the installation, whose cost is estimated at $25 million, were posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site to attract bidding contractors, a process called “routine” by Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Wesley Miller.
Routine or not, it was unthinkable for the U.S. Defense Department to publicize more than 1,000 pages of the most minute details of a system whose success rests, among other things, on being totally hidden from enemy eyes.
Read more: How the Obama Administration dealt a blow to Israeli missile defense | Washington Times Communities
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
