Geo. Washington Must Be Turning In His Grave, Plus

Remember when the US used to be a constitutional republic? I’m old enough to remember—or at least I think so. Earlier today I repeated my usual line about America having the best government money could buy. And then I saw this—who do you think owns this guy?

The_Real_Fly @The_Real_Fly

F*ck yeah

4:30 PM · Nov 13, 2023

I’ve learned my lesson the hard way, so rather than totally trust The People’s Voice, I checked around. It’s true. But here’s the thing—this story dates back to March, 2018. So, it wasn’t spoken in the heat of the moment and, in a manner of speaking, this was a Trump general. But, in fairness to Trump, he probably would have been impeached for giving this guy what he deserved. Also in fairness, this guy probably doesn’t believe what he says—he’s simply saying it because he figures this should help him rise to the very top, to be all he can be, even if he’s only in the USAF. But do notice, this is a blanket statement. He’s not saying, Israel is on the ropes, we gotta intervene right now. He’s making a programmatic statement. If you enlist in the US military that means you must be ready to die for Israel. Betcha didn’t know that, but the cat is out of the bag.

Now, the context for what follows was “Israel’s heightened involvement” in the US war on Syria—that’s the place Trump told the generals to withdraw from. Haha! Well, let me rephrase that. The context was Israel’s war on Syria in which the US was Israel’s proxy—proxies don’t get to withdraw if their controller doesn’t agree. Who did Trump think he was, anyway?

ZeroHedge reports: While major joint military exercises involving significant troop deployments are nothing new for the US and its allies (Juniper Cobra itself has been conducted annually for nearly a decade), Lt. Gen. Clark’s words to Israeli media are truly precedent setting and shocking, especially as he is among the highest ranking military officers in the US armed forces.

It is well worth reading the alarming scenario Gen. Clark laid out while speaking to the Jerusalem Post in its entirety:

“The United States and Israel enjoy a strong and enduring military-to-military partnership built on a trust that has been developed over decades of cooperation,” said USAF Third Air Force commander Lt.-Gen. Richard Clark, who also serves as the commander for the deploying Joint Task Force – Israel.

“The Juniper Cobra exercises continue to strengthen this relationship, providing us with the opportunity to bolster interoperability and develop seamless integration with our Israeli partners.”

According to Clark, the US and Israeli troops will work side-by-side under each other’s relevant chain of command.

But this is where Clark pushes far across the normative “military-to-military partnership” characteristic of joint drills with other allied nations. He says that US troops should be prepared to die for the Jewish State:

“As far as decision-making, it is a partnership,” he continued, stressing nonetheless that “at the end of the day it is about the protection of Israel – and if there is a question in regards to how we will operate, the last vote will probably go to Zvika [Brig.-Gen. Zvika Haimovitch, head of the IDF’s Aerial Defense Division].”

Washington and Israel have signed an agreement which would see the US come to assist Israel with missile defense in times of war and, according to [Israeli commander] Haimovitch, “I am sure once the order comes we will find here US troops on the ground to be part of our deployment team to defend the State of Israel.”

And those US troops who would be deployed to Israel, are prepared to die for the Jewish state, Clark said. “We are ready to commit to the defense of Israel anytime we get involved in a kinetic fight there is always the risk that there will be casualties. But we accept that – as every conflict we train for and enter, there is always that possibility,”

And it appears that both military leaders are in agreement on this point – that they are ready and willing to put US troops in harm’s way in pursuit of Israeli defense policy.

Disturbingly, Clark acknowledges willingness for life-and-death battlefield decisions impacting American soldiers to be placed in the hands of the Israeli chain of command in saying: “if there is a question in regards to how we will operate, the last vote will probably go to [Israeli General] Zvika.”

While in more stable times in the Middle East, Clark’s words might possibly be dismissed as hyperbole and misplaced enthusiasm for “the mission” – his words come as Israel is already actively involved on two fronts: Gaza and Syria. And according to many analysts and reports, including one recently leaked internal Israeli defense memo, Israel is ramping up for devastating engagement along a third front as Tel Aviv continues to view Lebanese Hezbollah to its north as the prime threat to Israeli security.

Should broader war break out between Israel, Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria, will US troops who find themselves working closely with the IDF be forced to obey the commands of Israeli generals, even to the point of death? We can’t find anything in the oath of enlistment or the Constitution [federal statute in 10 U.S.C. 502, and based in Article VI of the Constitution] that requires US citizens or soldiers to defend and fight for a foreign nation.

So read all that in the context of the Axios article that I linked this morning, which clearly suggests that the US is concerned that Israel is interested in creating exactly this type of scenario against Hezbollah, to draw the US in. Better to let that other guy die for your country than do it yourself, right? Who said that? Did I get that wrong, somehow?

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If you’re interested in what’s going on in Ukraine, Russia is still winning. However, I highly recommend the latest from Simplicius the Thinker:

Wild Day as the Ukrainian Game of Thrones Revs Up!

What’s going on in Ukraine now is late stage downfall power struggles. Don’t ask me why any sane person would want to be in charge there, but the power struggles are intensifying. Simplicius has all the who-struck-John stuff, but that’s beyond my purview. However, I did like this very much: