- US Mid-East commander steps down. Admiral Fallon falls on his sword.
- The Man Between War and Peace. The Esquire article about Admiral Fallon's dissent.
- Central banks fight credit crisis. Massive US election year intervention in the financial markets by central banks in North America and Europe means the problems are very serious indeed. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Does this reflect a desperate effort to push on a string?
1. US Mid-East commander steps down. The news hit the wires tonight that the Central Command's commander had resigned. A US "Proconsul" [see Dana Priest's The Mission, W W Norton, New York London, 2004 about how the US military has divided the world for its military and foreign policy initiatives: Chapter 3: The Cincs: Proconsuls to the Empire) was forced out over his dissenting views about invading Iran. What will follow?
BBC News Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 22:13 GMT
US Mid-East commander steps down
 Adm Fallon became head of US Central Command in March 2007 |
The commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Admiral William Fallon, is to retire from his post early.
He cited the "embarrassing situation and public perception of differences between my views and administration policy" as the reason for retiring.
He was the subject of a recent article by Esquire magazine, which said he was opposed to the use of force against Iran over its nuclear programme.
The 63-year-old admiral became head of the US Central Command a year ago.
US Mid-East commander steps down
2. The Man Between War and Peace. Here's the full Esquire article that summed up Admiral Fallon's position and liability to the Bush Administration.
Esquire March 11, 2008, 3:11 PM
The Man Between War and Peace
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
As the White House talked up conflict with Iran, the head of U.S. Central Command, William "Fox" Fallon, talked it down. Now he has resigned.
3. Central banks fight credit crisis. Bush is making every effort to stave off any election problems before the November elections to keep the Republicans in office. In the process he has pushed through fiscal and monetary policies of unprecedented proportions and of such a magnitude that the ongoing liquidity crisis is seen for what it is: massive and most likely intractable. He does not care what he does as long as he can keep the Republicans in the White House. The question arises about whether he will invade Iran to make it imperative to remain in power by a fabricated state of emergency?
Don't forget that Richard Nixon put the US military on war footing for an entire month until he was forced to stand down because he was using up the war machine. He did this for political reasons vis-a-vis the Soviet Union in October 1969. See Seymour Hersh's book The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House, Summit Books, New York, 1983, pps 124, 125 and footnote for a description of this Def Con I alert.
Also read in the same book Seymour Hersh's description of the Christmas bombing of Hanoi in Chapter 40: Vietnam: the Christmas Bombs. After he had been re-elected president in early November 1972, Nixon proceeded to bomb Hanoi. In a footnote on page 618 he describes that "Fifteen B-52s were shot down over North Vietnam during the twelve days of bombing with ninety-three American airmen officially listed as missing." Some US air crews refused to fly. This was hidden from the American people.
Seymour Hersh goes on to describe in the footnote on pps 618 and 619 how the airmen in the USAF Security Service at the 6990th Security Squadron at Torii Station on Okinawa refused to monitor the SAM sites an behalf of the B-52s bombing North Vietnam. They knew by their intelligence activity that North Vietnam was standing down with a ceasefire from 1st November 1972. Nixon bombed North Vietnam anyway after he was re-elected. These airmen were court martialled later as he describes. I urge everyone to read this book.
It is highly possible that Bush will pull the same stunt with respect to Iran if the Republicans are re-elected to the White House in the early November election this year. He could easily decide to bomb Iran as Nixon bombed North Vietnam knowing full well that the North Vietnamese were standing down. It is easy for me to see that Bush with the agreement of President elect John McCain would take the US to war against Iran as part of the middle east war effort once the election is settled. Dumping Admiral Fallon as is noted above is one step in this direction.
BBC News Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 21:01 GMT
Central banks fight credit crisis
 Five central banks have announced co-ordinated action |
The world's largest central banks have launched their latest co-ordinated action to calm jittery credit markets.
The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and central banks in the UK, Canada and Switzerland will inject billions of dollars into money markets.
The news cheered investors and US stocks surged more than 3% - their biggest one-day gain in five years.
The injection of more than $200bn is aimed at easing the credit crunch and its impact on the wider economy.
On Wall Street, the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average soared 416.66 points, or 3.55%, to close at 12,156.81.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended 1% higher.