U.S. Chief of Staff: U.S. and Israel have shared understanding of Mideast security

There are 6 million American Jews. They vote, they control a huge amount of wealth, they support election candidates, they contribute to science and technology, entertainment and literature. They are important for the US and have important support groups and are the main reason the US strongly supports Israel despite residual anti Semitism in the US. There are 7 million American Muslims. They hardly count at all and contribute little to American society. So have no illusions about the US relationship with Israel. With respect to Iran there is no doubt the Iranians are developing small nuclear bombs compatible with missiles. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason for developing ultra-highly enriched uranium since its only virtue is the ability to use it to make small lightweight bombs. The smaller the degree of enrichment, the heavier and the larger the bomb must be. One can use low enriched uranium to make ultra large-sized, heavy, useless bombs. The real issue is they could never use such a bomb on anyone, especially Israel. Would they ever use a nuclear bomb at all? The virtually 100% certain answer is NO unless they are crazy because use of the bomb would guarantee the complete destruction of Iran along with 75 million inhabitants. Hence, along with making us believe they are developing a bomb because of their unwillingness to allow inspection, Ahmadinejad does a great job of convincing us he is deranged and could potentially use a bomb. Fortunately he makes no decisions related to the bomb and the true management is anything but crazy. In any case having a missile compatible bomb (MCB) gives Iran useful credibility and they will exploit it once they have a bomb and they make it known or credible that they have a MCB. It is not clear there is an absolute need to prevent them from having a MCB, but it does carry some risk. So what might we do to block the development? Here is a list of options: 1) destroy their economy by sanctions and the US is working hard at doing that. 2) Make a demonstration of a large US missile targeted onto a remote, uninhabited part of Iran and alarm the population into doing something. Amazingly this is never discussed. 3) Destroy their oil wells and thereby impoverish the country since oil is half their GDP. This will annoy China since Iran supplies considerable oil to China but China’s main supplier is Saudi Arabia (double the amount Iran provides) and Saudi Arabia can easily increase production to compensate for the loss of Iranian oil. I doubt Iran would attempt to close the Strait of Harmuz with its navy consisting of three obsolete destroyers. They might succeed for a few days and then slink off sans navy. The bottom line is the US and Israel are collaborating and planning and they have excellent options. That is unfortunate news for many readers of Haaretz who wish bad things for Israel, but so be it.

How demeaning can it get? How low can a General go? The Zionist Matrix of Power has prevailed, again.

How demeaning can it get? The Zionist Matrix of Power has prevailed, again.

Poor you.How will you free Dar al Islam from infidel Israel now when Americans still refuse to let you finish Hitler's job? I guess you must hate them pretty much for that,but hey,what can one do against God willing......

When does this cynical and hypocritical talk finally stop. How can people just talk and ignore what just happens in froint of their door steps. Occupation seems to be the most natural thing in this world. This guy from the U.S. should have told the Israeli government to get serious and from now on no more aid would be wasted for this occupation project.

The whole business of trying to convince Israel that there is no danger in waiting more for the sanctions against Iran to work is becoming increasingly immoral. If the US administration had presented the case taking into account the opinions of the leading scholars of Islam like Bernard Lewis or Raphael Israeli who are convinced Iran cannot be deterred, then at least the public would have been aware of the risks involved. Unfortunately we have a case of an administration oblivious to other opinions, aided by an ignorant press which never considered it necessary to inform the public of the mindset of the Iranian leadership and the realistic possibility that the basic strategic doctrine of mutually assured destruction is not applicable to Iran any more. It is hardly surprising that Netanyahu cancelled the Austere Challenge drill probably out to fears that letting Americans be involved in the decision-making about attacking Iran would be dangerous for Israel. Our two countries do share the same interests and values but all the empirical evidence shows that Obama does not. If this were not an existential question for Israel the checks and balances inherent in the American political system would eventually take care of that, but with the doctrine of mutual assured destruction ineffective with regards to Iran, Israel just cannot afford to rely on someone as unreliable as Obama and Israel has to make its own decisions. MAD is Dead http://www.madisdead.blogspot.com/

In the long run after these lovely sentiments each country will follow its own interests (which is what they should do.)

Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the protection of those democratic blessings and values.

the palestinians and iranians with a holocaust. why is that ok?

And U.S.chief of staff is being led around by the nose to more pitty parties. If Nutt-yahu realy was worried about security: HE WOULD MAKE PEACE!!! Security comes with peace! COMON SENSE! (OH: sorry I forgot:) We are talking about Nutt-yahu.

now that jewish newspapers are calling for Obama to be killed good luck

1.The shared understanding between US and Israel regarding Mideast Secuirty is as follows: They don't get it. 2.Only a small boy with the Passover Meal of Five Loaves and Two Fish can turn water under the bridge into vintage wine and which allow the protracted wedding of two peoples, two nations and two religions (Israel and Palestine) to proceed smoothly. 3.The Five loaves not only catches the two fish Israel and Palestine but also the Antichrist and Jesus Christ.

to trust Israel. The latter is a non-democratic, racist "state" which flaunts UN resolutions, spies on its friends, has stolen nuclear weapon tech. from us, prevents Jews from marrying and/or living with non-Jews and continues to illegally occupy and settle. Why should any country cooperate with it? SImple: money. AIPAC et all own the US Congress. Very dangerous "partnership."

Kind of sad for the jewish people.

1. strengthening the Israeli military with the most advanced technologies to maintain military superiority over all neighboring countries; 2. maintaining a state of tension in the ME because of the blind and "unshakable" support of the US for the Israeli OCCUPATION. 3. denying the rights of the Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity. 4. threatening anyone who is indifferent to US-Israel policies in the ME (e.g. Iran, Syria). in the dictionary the word "security" means the state of being free from threat and danger. However in the case of Israel-US understanding of security it means " the state of making Israel more powerful so that it can at anytime threat others and make them vulnerable to Israeli attacks". P.S. American leaders have been visiting Israel more frequently recently. Perhaps to prepare for a war against Iran or perhaps to prevent Israel from making such an attack. If Iran is to be attacked, the US/Israel will lose because of the fragile economic situation that would fundamentally affect the US and the global economy. If they didn't attack, Iran will have an atomic bomb and Israel will count to ten before making any stupid moves. Iran is the winner in any case (those who doubt this because of american superiority are just blind simply because they can't realize the decline of the American dominance of the world and the rising of other powers).

Even if it is not true,American jewish money will make it true.

still peres have the nerve to use the Holocaust in his argumentation. Appaling

but a holocaust against palestinians, iranian, lebanese is ok?!

“We are committed to making sure that such human tragedy will never happen again". If the USA and Israel bomb it will start a conflagration across the Middle East that will be just that . . a human tragedy. Perhaps he meant a human for tragedy for the USA and to hell with everyone else.

world see US bluffing on Israel, US dont war, Israel want them to fight anyway.

Is the US's commitment to Israel whether it is right or wrong. This is another fine example of the tail wagging the dog.

poor dempsey.

i am sick of these israel-lover generals.

anyone know aipac tells US what to do.

One-half million children died in Iraq under sanctions. One million Iranians died during Saddam's murderous 8-year war. Oh, so it must depend on which humans you are talking about.

In theory, correct about the Holocaust. In practice, Dempsey's statement is either not credible or naive (giving him the benefit of the doubt).

however, he is not his own boss. his boss is the president. the president has done nothing to stop iran from getting nuclear weapons. hence, it is difficult to comprehend what shared understandings were reached, except in the most general terms.

What he really meant was no jewish holocaust but yes for others including palestinians. This is why no sane person trusts the USA and NATO and the killing of the french soldiers by Afghans

why don't you accept that, after a century of nothing but defeats and self-inflicted misery, it would be wise to accept a different goal and start building a better future for your children - stop strapping suicide vests on them, and start building schools and factories in an independent but peaceful palestinian state?

What an idiot this Dempsey looks! Where on earth did he get that uniform from? He looks more like the doorman at my local cinema!

You better ponder that Hamas and MB!