U.S. Marine's on Guard in Cario wothout Amo

U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo.
Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”

The ambassador wasn’t even in Cairo at the time. She was in Washington while her staffed embarrassed the United States in front of the entire world. That’s how you end up with the black flag of Islam raised in place of the American flag, on 9-11.
U.S. officials have yet to confirm or comment on the reports. Time magazine’s Battleland blog reported Thursday “Senior U.S. officials late Wednesday declined to discuss in detail the security at either Cairo or Benghazi, so answers may be slow in coming.”
If true, the reports indicate that Patterson shirked her obligation to protect U.S. interests, Nightwatch states.
“She did not defend U.S. sovereign territory and betrayed her oath of office,” the report states. “She neutered the Marines posted to defend the embassy, trusting the Egyptians over the Marines.”

Jesse Ventura Gets Ass Kicked by US Navy Seal - Ho-Rah...

If former Gov. Jesse Ventura didn't like what Navy SEAL Chris Kyle wrote about him in his memoir, "American Sniper," he's going to positively hate what five fellow SEALs -- and the mothers of two of their fallen comrades -- have to say about him.
Kyle's friends and associates have rallied to his defense in a defamation lawsuit Ventura filed in Hennepin County in January. Ventura, whose real name is James Janos, sued over Kyle's portrayal of a bar fight he claims they had six years ago in Coronado, Calif.
Under the heading, "Punching Out Scruff Face," Kyle describes a confrontation with a "celebrity" who served in the military during the Vietnam War. He said Scruff Face winters in Baja California, opposed the war in Iraq and described the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a "conspiracy."
Though he didn't name Ventura in the book, Kyle has acknowledged that Scruff Face is Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
Ventura denies Kyle's allegation that he prompted the alleged fight by saying that the SEALS "deserve to lose a few" in Iraq, or that Kyle "laid him out" at the bar during a wake for a fellow SEAL.
The lawsuit has been moved to federal court in St. Paul, where Kyle's attorney, John Borger, filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss two of the three counts as legally deficient. He said he plans to bring a separate motion for summary judgment on the remaining defamation claim as well.
In support of Tuesday's motion to dismiss claims of unjust enrichment and misappropriation of Ventura's likeness, Borger filed a handful of "declarations" from witnesses to the alleged bar fight who describe him as a "jackass" and his comments that night as "anti-American."
Borger describes Ventura in his motion as a "Navy veteran, ex-wrestler, ex-color commentator, actor, ex-mayor, ex-governor, outspoken conspiracy theorist, and frequent fanfaron of future prospects for public office." A fanfaron is a braggart, a swaggerer, a bully.
Ventura to have say in court
David Olsen, Ventura's attorney, said Tuesday he would respond in court and declined to comment further.
Kyle retired from the Navy in 2009. He served four combat tours in Iraq and elsewhere, and was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corp Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation.
"The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present," he said in a court filing.
Kyle said he and two co-authors wrote "American Sniper." "The events that happened in the book are true," he said. "I reconstructed dialogue from memory, which means that it may not be word for word. But the essence of what was said is accurate."
The witnesses' declarations generally agree with Kyle's description of the alleged fight at McP's Irish Pub in Coronado. Kyle and his friends were having a wake for Mikey Mansoor, a SEAL who threw himself onto a grenade to save his comrades and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Eyewitness accounts
Debbie Lee, who lost her son, Navy SEAL Marc Lee, in Iraq, said the group was mournful and respectful. "It was not a belly-up-to-the-bar type of event," she wrote.
One of her son's SEAL teammates introduced her to Ventura, whom she found offensive. She said she heard him criticize the war and called President George Bush a jerk. Ventura could only talk about himself, she said. "He did not say he was sorry for my loss."
Bob Gassoff, the SEAL who introduced Lee to Ventura, said the former governor wore a beard braided into pony tails and a blue SEAL team hat. "He was badmouthing the war and President Bush. He was upsetting the families of deceased SEALs," Gassoff said.
Andrew Paul, a reservist Navy SEAL, said he notified Mansoor's family about his death and helped carry his body off the plane.
"I grew up watching [the movie] 'Predator' and professional wrestling. I thought it would be cool to meet 'The Body,'" he said.
But Ventura's behavior that night revolted him, Paul said. "He was saying the wrong things in the wrong place at the wrong time. In my opinion, he was being as anti-American as you can possibly get. Now, he would probably argue that he was being very American by challenging the government, but for a bunch of guys who had just laid their lives on the line for their country and who were at a wake for their fallen comrade, he's lucky the punch to the face is all he got."
Most of those swearing out declarations said they didn't see Kyle hit Ventura, but claim they saw the commotion and the aftermath as Kyle took off and Ventura clambered up from the ground with blood on his face.
Jeremiah Dinnell, an active-duty SEAL, was the exception.
"I heard Ventura say that we shouldn't be over in Iraq, doing what we were doing," he said. "And then he said that the SEALs deserved to lose some guys because of what we were doing.
"That's when Chris punched him. All of us wanted to. Chris was just the first one to pop him."

Iran's Navy Aims to Sail Off US Shores

TEHRAN, Iran - The head of Iran's navy says the country aims to put its warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "in the next few years."
The comments Tuesday from Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on state TV are part of Iran's response to Washington's beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. Navy's 5th fleet is based in Bahrain - across the gulf from Iran - and the U.S. plans maritime war games later this month.
Iran has made similar claims in the past that its ships could soon sail into international waters off the U.S. coast.
Tehran and Washington have been in odd over Tehran's nuclear ambitions that the West suspects it has aimed at weapon. Iran denies the charge.

Iran's Navy Aims to Sail Off US Shores

TEHRAN, Iran - The head of Iran's navy says the country aims to put its warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "in the next few years."
The comments Tuesday from Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on state TV are part of Iran's response to Washington's beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. Navy's 5th fleet is based in Bahrain - across the gulf from Iran - and the U.S. plans maritime war games later this month.
Iran has made similar claims in the past that its ships could soon sail into international waters off the U.S. coast.
Tehran and Washington have been in odd over Tehran's nuclear ambitions that the West suspects it has aimed at weapon. Iran denies the charge.

Iran's Navy Aims to Sail Off US Shores

TEHRAN, Iran - The head of Iran's navy says the country aims to put its warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "in the next few years."
The comments Tuesday from Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on state TV are part of Iran's response to Washington's beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. Navy's 5th fleet is based in Bahrain - across the gulf from Iran - and the U.S. plans maritime war games later this month.
Iran has made similar claims in the past that its ships could soon sail into international waters off the U.S. coast.
Tehran and Washington have been in odd over Tehran's nuclear ambitions that the West suspects it has aimed at weapon. Iran denies the charge.

US Presents along with Israel, Plan Iran Strike

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli newspaper reported Sunday that the Obama administration's top security official has briefed Israel on U.S. plans for a possible attack on Iran, seeking to reassure it that Washington is prepared to act militarily should diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks, said the article in the Haaretz daily was incorrect.
Haaretz said National Security Adviser Tom Donilon laid out the plans before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner at a visit to Israel earlier this month. It cited an unidentified senior American official as the source of its report, which came out as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was telling Israel he would back an Israeli military strike against Iran.
The American official also said Donilon shared information on U.S. weapons that could be used for such an attack, and on the U.S. military's ability to reach Iranian nuclear facilities buried deep underground, the newspaper said. It cited another U.S. official involved in the talks with Israel as concluding that "the time for a military operation against Iran has not yet come."
The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting, said, "Nothing in the article is correct. Donilon did not meet the prime minister for dinner, he did not meet him one-on-one, nor did he present operational plans to attack Iran." He had no information when asked if Donilon had discussed any kind of attack plans with any Israeli official. Haaretz said another Israeli official attended for part of the meeting.
The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment. Haaretz cited Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, as declining to comment on the confidential discussion between Netanyahu and Donilon. The White House also declined comment.
Both Israel and the U.S. think Iran's ultimate aim is to develop weapons technology, and not just produce energy and medical isotopes as Tehran claims. U.S. officials are concerned that Israel might attack Iranian nuclear facilities prematurely, and have been trying to convince Israeli leaders they can depend on Washington to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they would not contract out their country's security to another nation.
In Jerusalem on Sunday, a top Romney foreign policy adviser told reporters, "If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing the capability (to build a nuclear weapon), the governor would respect that decision." Romney also thinks the option of a U.S. attack should be on the table.

Iran Vows to Strike 35 US Bases if Attacked

TEHRAN -- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is prepared to hit 35 U.S. facilities in the Middle East early in a possible attack, a corps leader said Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the corps' air force, said current missile war games practiced targeting a hypothetical enemy air base that is a replica of U.S. bases in the region, the government-backed Fars news agency reported.
"We have thought of measures to set up bases and deploy missiles to destroy all these bases in the early minutes after an attack," Hajizadeh said of contingency plans for any potential confrontation with the United States.
He said all of the 35 U.S. installations in the region "are within the reach of our missiles."
He said lands in dispute between Palestinian and Israeli leaders "are good targets for us as well."
On Tuesday, the IRGC air force began missile war games, firing short-, mid- and long-range missiles from facilities across the country at a lone target in central Iran, Fars said.
Iran's military officials have warned that if it was attacked by either the United States or Israel, the country would target all U.S. bases in the Middle East and close the economically strategic Strait of Hormuz.

US Boosts Persian Gulf Forces in Warning to Iran

The United States has quietly moved significant military reinforcements into the Gulf to deter the Iranian military from any future attempt to shut the Strait of Hormuz and to increase the number of fighter jets able to strike deep into Iran if the standoff over its nuclear program escalates.
The effort is part of a long-planned effort to bolster the U.S. military presence in the Gulf, in part to reassure Israel that, as a senior administration official put it last week, "when the President says there are other options on the table beyond negotiations, he means it."
But at a moment that the United States and its allies are beginning to enforce a much broader embargo on Iran's oil exports, meant to force Tehran to take seriously negotiations over sharply limiting its nuclear program, the buildup carries significant risks, including that Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard could decide to lash out against the increased presence.
The most visible elements of this buildup are ships designed to enhance vastly the ability to patrol the Strait of Hormuz and to reopen it should Iran attempt to mine it to prevent Saudi Arabia and other oil exporters from sending their tankers through.
The Navy has doubled the number of minesweepers assigned to the region, to eight vessels, in what military officers describe as a purely defensive move.
"The message to Iran is, 'Don't even think about it,"' said a senior Defense Department official. "Don't even think about closing the strait. We'll clear the mines. Don't even think about sending your fast boats out to harass our vessels or commercial shipping. We'll put them on the bottom of the Gulf."
Over recent weeks, additional F-22 and F/A-18 warplanes have moved into two separate bases in the Gulf to bolster the combat jets already in the region and the carrier strike groups that are on constant tours. And the Navy, after a crash development program, has moved a converted amphibious transport and docking ship, the Ponce, into the Gulf to serve as the Pentagon's first floating staging base.
The initial assignment for the Ponce, Pentagon officials say, is to serve as a logistics and operations hub for clearing mines. But with a medical suite and helicopter deck -- and bunks for combat troops -- the Ponce could eventually be used as a base for Special Operations forces to conduct a range of missions, including reconnaissance and counterterrorism, all from international waters.
For President Barack Obama, the combination of negotiations, new sanctions aimed at Iran's oil revenue and increased military pressure is the latest test, and perhaps the most vital one, of what the White House calls a two-track policy against Iran. In the midst of a presidential election campaign in which his presumed opponent, Mitt Romney, has accused Mr. Obama of being "weak" in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue, his goal is to project toughness without tipping into a crisis in the Gulf.
At the same time he must signal support for Israel -- but not so much support that the Israelis see the buildup as an opportunity to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, an attack that Mr. Obama's team believes could trigger a war without significantly setting back the Iranian program.
A key motivation for the covert effort to undermine Iran's enrichment capability with cyberattacks has been to demonstrate to the Israelis that there are more effective ways to slow the program than to strike from the air.
So far, there is little evidence that the increased pressure is having the desired effect on Iran. Negotiations are in stalemate, though a group of Iranian, American and European experts are expected to meet in Istanbul on Tuesday to review a recent U.S. proposal and Iranian response. Iran has strenuously resisted all efforts to force it to give up enrichment of uranium.
U.S. Defense Department officials emphasized that the recent reshaping of forces in the Gulf region should not be viewed as solely about the potential nuclear threat from Iran.
"This is not only about Iranian nuclear ambitions, but about Iran's regional hegemonic ambitions," the senior Defense Department official said. "This is a complex array of American military power that is tangible proof to all of our allies and partners and friends that even as the U.S. pivots toward Asia, we remain vigilant across the Middle East."
While all U.S. ground troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, a force equivalent to an extra Army combat brigade has remained in Kuwait, officials said. It could have many roles to contain regional instability, but Iran is a primary concern.
"There's significant risk that as pressure builds, the Iranian response could be to lash out," a military official central to the effort said in the spring. "The buildup is designed to reduce that risk. The Iranians are usually pretty rational actors, but there is no guarantee."
While it always is difficult to read Tehran's intentions, senior Navy officers have noted that Iranian ships in the Gulf have recently refrained from provocative behavior.
"Things have been, relatively speaking, quiet," said Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the chief of naval operations, assessing actions by Iranian Navy vessels over "the last couple of months."
But that was without the pressure of the new sanctions; Iran is already exporting far less oil every day than a year ago, about 1.5 million barrels a day versus 2.5 million before the gradual imposition of earlier sanctions.
While Iranian vessels have avoided any confrontations with allied warships in recent weeks, Iran expects to equip its ships in the Strait of Hormuz soon with shorter-range missiles, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander said Friday. The U.S. attack aircraft recently moved to the region give the United States military additional capability against those missile batteries.
Ali Fadavi, the commander, said Iran had already equipped its vessels in the Gulf with missiles that could strike targets at distances up to 220 kilometers, or 135 miles, and was expecting to introduce new missiles with a range of 300 kilometers soon, according to the semiofficial news agency Mehr