Israel’s diplomatic and military correspondents got quite the surprise watching the live feed of the Senate Intelligence Committee when Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) revealed the head of the Mossad had made a secret visit to Washington earlier this week to hold talks with senior U.S. officials. The item led the “Mabat” main newscast on Israel’s government-run network IBA on Tuesday evening and was the headline on Ha’aretz newspaper’s website. The travels of Mossad Director Tamir Pardo are usually kept secret and in fact, the name of the head of the Mossad and Shin Bet [Israel’s version of the FBI] were up until a few years ago kept secret from the public. Ha’aretz reports: The clandestine Washington visit was exposed during a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which was participated by CIA Director David Petraeus, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate panel. During the meeting, Feinstein asked Clapper whether or not Israel intended to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the top U.S. intelligence official answering that he would rather discuss the issue behind closed doors. Feinstein then indicated that she had met Mossad chief Pardo earlier in the week in Washington, with Petraeus adding that he too met Pardo and cited what he called Israel’s growing concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The CIA chief also said that it was important to note that Israel considered a nuclear Iran as an existential threat. In Sen. Feinstein’s defense, the travels of the head of the CIA to close allies is not as closely guarded, and she might not have known Israel’s modus operandi on the matter. On the other hand, as head of the Intelligence Committee, the senior Senator from California might have considered that with tensions running so high, some meetings are best held close to the vest. The question also remains: why did CIA Director Petraeus also publicly confirm the meetings? He called it “part of an ongoing dialogue.” The entire exchange can be seen here on C-SPAN – Feinstein makes the Mossad comment at 34:30. Reflecting the heightened tensions, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday Iran’s “evil” leaders must not be allowed to get nuclear weapons, and he called Iran’s nuclear program the world’s “central problem.” Peres’ remarks opened the prestigious Herzliya Conference . Ha’aretz reported : “Nuclear weapons mustn’t be allowed to fall into the hands of Iran’s Ayatollah regime,” Peres said, calling Iran’s religious leadership the “most morally corrupt regime in the world.” Hinting at the possibility of a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the president reiterated the Israeli stance, according to which “no option should be ruled out in our dealing with the Iranian danger. This is an existential threat.” “It is the duty of the international community to prevent evil and nuclear [weapons] from coming together. That is the obligations of most of the leaders of the free world, one which they must meet,” Peres said. On what he called “the moral significance of this battle,” the president spoke of an Iranian regime which “executes people for their views. It funds, trains, and guides terrorists to spread terror and murder across the globe.” The AP reports that Israeli officials believe if a military strike on Iran’s nuclear installations is going to be effective, it must take place by this summer, due to Iran moving facilities underground. Additionally, over the weekend, veteran Israeli intelligence reporter Ronen Bergman wrote in the New York Times Magazine that he agrees this year is key: “After speaking with many senior Israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012. Perhaps in the small and ever-diminishing window that is left, the United States will choose to intervene after all, but here, from the Israeli perspective, there is not much hope for that. Instead there is that peculiar Israeli mixture of fear — rooted in the sense that Israel is dependent on the tacit support of other nations to survive — and tenacity, the fierce conviction, right or wrong, that only the Israelis can ultimately defend themselves.” Clapper told the Senate panel he believes Iran has advanced technically on uranium enrichment and that its political decision on if to construct a nuclear device is the central issue: “These advancements contribute to our judgment that Iran is technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon, if it so chooses,” Clapper added, saying that the U.S. judged “Iran would likely choose missile delivery as its preferred method of delivering a nuclear weapon.” See Buck Sexton’s coverage of the hearing here , including what the Iranians might have in mind for the U.S.
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Did Sen. Dianne Feinstein Reveal…Mossad Chief’s Secret Visit?
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and the author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian.” He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee. He is a regular guest on Fox News and hundreds of radio shows across America. He is also a gun-slinging, riverboat gambling, entrepreneur and capitalist evangelist. His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com Here is the speech Obama would give if only he was able to tell the truth: “I know…I know…the State of The Union Is desperate…Frankly, I don’t care. Through my magical stimulus I’ve delivered tens of billions of dollars to my union supporters and made hundreds of my campaign bundlers multi-millionaires. They, of course, kicked back hundreds of millions in contributions to me and my fellow Democrats to make sure we are re-elected, so we can keep the taxpayer money flowing back to them. Don’t ‘ya love it when a plan comes together? “Yes, I know deficits are destroying America. Quite frankly I don’t give a damn. I need to buy votes and there’s no better way than by redistributing wealth from those who vote against me, to those who vote for me. And since the GOP is blocking my tax increases, and even China isn’t dumb enough to lend it anymore, I’ve got Ben Bernanke printing money 24 hours a day. I then shower it on unions, lawyers, lobbyists, Jeffrey Immelt of GE, and my personal favorite scam…green energy. I’m getting re-elected with ‘Obama money!’ So what if your kids and grandkids will be enslaved to high taxes for generations to come…blah, blah, blah. “Of course I know GM and Chrysler are going to go broke – again . I squeezed out a few more years of bloated salaries and obscene pensions to my union buddies, who will re-pay me with hundreds of millions in contributions just in time for the 2012 election. With those union pension and healthcare obligations, only an idiot could think these companies would actually survive long term. But think of the timing? I stole enough money from taxpayers to keep these corpses alive for a decade. By the time they fail, I’ll be gone. “I know most of you hate Obamacare- TOUGH! Those of you who hate it weren’t going to vote for me anyway. You’ve got to look at what a great scam…I mean plan it is for me. I’ll funnel hundreds of billions to my corporate friends who will, of course, kick back hundreds of millions to my re-election campaign. As a bonus, I get to unionize every health care worker in America! More union dues, more kickbacks, MORE DEMOCRATS! Who says Christmas comes only once a year? “Speaking of my crony friends…how about Warren Buffet? Is he the greatest or what? Humble…caring… a patriot…a benevolent billionaire begging me to raise taxes on the filthy rich. What a scam…er sorry, plan. Everyone listens to a billionaire. He complains to the media about taxes on billionaires and I get to raise taxes on all those Republican small business owners that make $250,000 to $500,000 a year. It’s better than three-card Monte from the streets of Chicago! “Those higher taxes on the upper middle class give me more money to hire more government employees, who will automatically vote Democrat to protect their jobs. But wait, it gets even better… “All those new government employees will pay union dues- more kickbacks and contributions to Democrats. And we were able to afford it by punishing wealthy voters who vote Republican. They’re paying me to beat them for years to come. Even Fidel couldn’t think up anything this good! “Here’s the best part of Buffet’s scam- he’s already got his $50 billion. Higher taxes don’t affect him one iota and he’s killed the competition. After we cripple them with taxes, they’ll never be able to compete with him. What a guy! “But wait. For helping me raise taxes…I also push all the crippled companies begging for government bailouts like B of A and Goldman Sachs straight to Buffet, who then loans money to them at loan shark terms. All those companies then write big checks to my re-election campaign. Even the Gambino crime family wasn’t this ruthless. “Is this brilliant, or what? Let me say it again about Warren… what a scammer…er, WHAT A GUY! “Now to the most important part of the State of the Union. I know ’green energy’ is the biggest fraud in world history. Do you think I’m a complete idiot? Well, at least the biggest fraud since we made up ‘global warming.’ But we took care of that little mistake. We’ve changed the name to ’climate change.’ That covers us whether it gets hotter or colder. Either way we demonize business so when American manufacturers move jobs offshore to get away from our anti-business scheme, guess who I get to blame? American business! Isn’t this country great? “Moreover, I’ve been able to damage the domestic coal and oil business by blaming them for harming the environment. That’s created a boom for the rest of the world to supply us. Oh, I know, most of these other countries support terrorism and hate America. But that’s a small price to pay so Michelle and I can travel the world and be treated like rock stars. “And, as a bonus the U.S. economy has been weakened, making American citizens even more dependent on big government (that’s me). Soon, everyone will be either working for government (me), or collecting a handout from government (me). After that, no one will ever question big government again. “You know what I call 45 million Americans on food stamps? A small start. “You know what I call twelve million illegal aliens? As soon as I pass amnesty, you can call them twelve million Democrat voters. That puts me and my socialist cabal in control of D.C. forever. “Finally, let me be clear…I don’t care about the state of the union. I care about the teachers union, autoworkers union, SEIU, and government employees union. “I get shivers just thinking about Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky looking up at me from hell and smiling. I’ve done what even they thought could never be done. Who said you can’t fool 51% of the people all the time? “God Bless Me and God Bless America.”
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Obama: The TRUE State of the Union
So the winner on Tuesday gets all of Florida’s 50 delegates to the GOP convention, right? It says so right in the Republican Florida of Party primary rules . Eh… probably. You see, the Republican National Committee wanted the primary season to start later (that didn’t work out so well) and they wanted the early states to award their delegates proportionally. But those rules came about under Chairman Michael Steele; by the time Florida set its date, Reince Priebus was running the show, and the RNC approved the current winner-takes-all system. The Florida GOP says it’s a non-issue; the current RNC leadership has signed off on the winner-take-all system. Keep reading this post . . .
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Florida’s GOP Primary Is Winner-Take-All… For Now.
AP – President Barack Obama plans to visit the offices of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday, just two days after defying Senate Republicans and appointing a new head to the watchdog agency.
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Jobs report, consumer agency on tap for Obama
(AP)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Mahmoud Abbas Appoints Released Terrorist as Presidential Adviser
