Israel asks U.S. for arms, air corridor to attack Iran

The security aid package the United States has refused to give Israel for the past few months out of concern that Israel would use it to attack nuclear facilities in Iran included a large number of “bunker-buster” bombs, permission to use an air corridor to Iran, an advanced technological system and refueling planes.

Officials from both countries have been discussing the Israeli requests over the past few months. Their rejection would make it very difficult for Israel to attack Iran, if such a decision is made.

About a month ago, Haaretz reported that the Bush administration had turned down an Israeli request for certain security items that could upgrade Israel’s capability to attack Iran. The U.S. administration reportedly saw the request as a sign preparations were moving ahead for an Israeli attack on Iran.
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Diplomatic and security sources indicated to Haaretz that the list of components Israel included:

Bunker-buster GBU-28 bombs: In 2005, the U.S. said it was supplying these bombs to Israel. In August 2006, The New York Times reported that the U.S. had expedited the dispatch of additional bombs at the height of the Second Lebanon War. The bombs, which weigh 2.2 tons each, can penetrate six meters of reinforced concrete. Israel appears to have asked for a relatively large number of additional bunker-busters, and was turned down.

Air-space authorization: An attack on Iran would apparently require passage through Iraqi air space. For this to occur, an air corridor would be needed that Israeli fighter jets could cross without being targeted by American planes or anti-aircraft missiles. The Americans also turned down this request. According to one account, to avoid the issue, the Americans told the Israelis to ask Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for permission, along the lines of “If you want, coordinate with him.”

Refueling planes. An air attack on Iran would require refueling of fighter jets on the way back. According to a report on Channel 10 a few weeks ago, the U.S. rejected an Israeli request for more advanced refueling tankers, of the Boeing 767 model.

The refueling craft the Israel Air Force now uses are very outmoded, something that make it difficult to operate at long distances from Israel. Even if the Americans were to respond favorably to such a request, the process could take a few years.

The IDF recently reported that it is overhauling a Boeing 707 that previously served as the prime minister’s plane to serve as a refueling aircraft.

Advanced technological systems. The Israeli sources declined to give any details on this point.

The Israeli requests were discussed during President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel in May, as well as during Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to Washington in July. In a series of meetings at a very senior level, following Bush’s visit, the Americans made clear to the Israelis that for now they are sticking to the diplomatic option to halt the Iranian nuclear project and that Jerusalem does not have a green light from Washington for an attack on Iran.

However, it appears that in compensation for turning down Israel’s “offensive” requests, the U.S. has agreed to strengthen its defensive systems.

During the Barak visit, it was agreed that an advanced U.S. radar system would be stationed in the Negev, and the order to send it was made at that time. The system would double to 2,000 kilometers the range of identification of missiles launched from the direction of Iran, and would be connected to an American early warning system.

The system is to be operated by American civilians as well as two American soldiers. This would be the first permanent U.S. force on Israeli soil.

A senior security official said the Americans were preparing “with the greatest speed” to make good on their promise, and the systems could be installed within a month.

The Israeli security source said he believed Washington was moving ahead quickly on the request because it considered it very important to restrain Israel at this time.

At the beginning of the year, the Israeli leadership still considered it a reasonable possibility that Bush would decide to attack Iran before the end of his term.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in private discussions, even raised the possibility that the U.S. was considering an attack in the transition period between the election in November and the inauguration of the new president in January 2009.

However, Jerusalem now assumes that likelihood of this possibility is close to nil, and that Bush will use the rest of his time in office to strengthen what he defines as the Iraqi achievement, following the relative success of American efforts there over the past year and a half.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1019989.html

Sinlaku Strengthening; 16W now a Tropical Depression

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 September, 2008 : – – As of Wednesday late morning EDT, the eye of Typhoon Sinlaku (15W) is near 20.7 north and 124.3 east, or 435 miles south-southwest of Naha, Okinawa, Japan. Winds are sustained at between 125 and 130 mph, or those of a strong Category 3 hurricane. Drift is to the north at about 4 mph.

Sinlaku is forecast to be a major Category 3 to Category 4 typhoon as it drifts mostly northward Thursday and Friday. Approach to the southern half of the Ryukyu Islands, of which one is Okinawa, will happen late Friday into Saturday, local time. Approach to the southwestern mainland could happen Monday.

If a ridge north of Sinlaku build more than forecast, Sinlaku would track farther west, even directly effecting Taiwan with high wind and torrential rain.

http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=36295

Hurricane Ike triples in size!

*Be careful, everyone…you are in my thoughts.*

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — Highways in Texas were jammed as coastal residents fled Hurricane Ike, which tripled in size in the central Gulf of Mexico and threatened the 5.6 million people of the Houston area.

The system’s strongest winds extend as far as 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the eye, compared with 35 miles yesterday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said today. Ike’s winds cover an area larger than that of Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005, Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at private forecaster Weather Underground Inc., said.

“The total amount of energy is more powerful than Katrina, so we could be seeing a storm surge that could rival Katrina,” Masters said. Ike is so big “the location doesn’t matter much; it is going to inundate a huge part of the Texas coast.”

Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order that started at noon today. Hurricane Ike is following a track similar to the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 8,000 people, the deadliest storm in U.S. history.

The storm is a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 100 mph, up from 80 mph yesterday, the center said in an advisory at 7 p.m. Houston time.

Ike’s center was 370 miles east-southeast of Galveston and moving west-northwest at 12 mph, with landfall south of Galveston forecast for early Sept. 13. Because of its size, Ike will be felt along the Texas coast long before landfall.

Packing Up

Three houses away from Galveston Bay in LaPorte, Jamie and April Ybarra packed their two children, two dogs and cat into a Chevy sports utility vehicle and prepared to leave.

“I think the call for evacuation came a little late,” Jamie Ybarra, a 32-year-old safety coordinator, said. “You hear the roads are crowded; you hear people are losing their cool.”

This is the third time the family has evacuated in three years, April Ybarra said. And “we may not be coming back here for awhile.”

Ike’s central pressure is more like that associated with a Category 3 or 4 storm, Masters said.

“It is a massive storm; it is impacting in terms of its scope 40 percent of the Gulf,” said Michael Chertoff, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, in a conference call from Washington. “The most important message I can send is, do not take this storm lightly. This is not a storm to gamble with. It is large and powerful and carries a lot of water with it.”

The U.S. weather center’s forecasters said Ike may strengthen to at least a major hurricane with Category 3 intensity, meaning sustained winds of at least 111 mph, before landfall. Other forecasters predict Ike may become a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds from 131 to 155 mph.

Oil Fields

The storm is forecast to sweep through the center of the Gulf, missing the offshore Louisiana oil and natural gas fields. The Gulf is home to about a quarter of U.S. oil production.

Even so, about 96 percent of all oil production in the Gulf has been shut in along with 73.1 percent of natural gas plants, according to the Minerals Management Service, a bureau of the Interior Department. Some plants have been closed since Hurricane Gustav struck Louisiana last week.

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown facility, 17 miles east of Houston, is the country’s biggest, with a capacity of 586,000 barrels a day. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which is the largest U.S. oil-import terminal and handles 13 percent of imports, said it closed marine operations because of Ike.

Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker, and competitors such as DuPont Co., LyondellBassell Industries and Texas Petrochemicals Inc. are closing plants in the Houston area. The Texas Gulf Coast produces two-thirds of the nation’s ethylene, used in products from plastic bags to auto parts.

Declaring Emergency

President George W. Bush declared an emergency for Texas, his home state, and Governor Rick Perry readied 1,350 buses to evacuate residents in preparation for Ike’s landfall. As many as 7,500 Texas National Guard members are on standby.

Houston’s population is 2.2 million, making it the fourth- biggest U.S. city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and its metropolitan area, with a population of 5.6 million, is the sixth-largest in the U.S.

The Houston Texans pushed back their National Football League home-opener against the Baltimore Ravens by a day because of Hurricane Ike, while the Astros postponed two games ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Officials in Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Matagorda and Galveston counties ordered about 564,063 people to leave homes that are now in Ike’s path. Television news reports showed miles-long traffic jams in the area.

`Follow Instructions’

“My message to Texans in the projected impact area is this: finish your preparations because Ike is dangerous and he’s on his way,” Perry said in a statement. “If your local officials tell you to evacuate, follow their instructions.”

Ernest Baddeaux, a 66-year-old welder who lives a half- block from Galveston Bay in La Porte, said he wasn’t going to heed the mandatory evacuation.

“The officials and media tell you to evacuate but they don’t necessarily tell you where or how you’re going to pay for it,” he said as hammered plywood over his windows.

Baddeaux said he was reasonably confident his house, one of the few in the neighborhood raised on piers, would protect him. Hurricane Alicia, which hit the Houston area in 1983, brought a 12-foot storm surge that didn’t reach his property.

“I think one other family on the street is staying, too,” he said, adding that he has an electric generator, a gasoline supply and enough food and water to last for weeks.

Storm Surge

Jim Rouiller, a meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania, said he’s worried about storm surge damage around Galveston Bay, on the coast southeast of Houston, which may be in the top right quadrant of the storm field where rains and winds are most powerful.

Galveston’s seawall is 17 feet high and the forecast storm surge is 20 feet high.

“If that’s breached, a whole refinery complex goes under water,” Rouiller said.

Some parts of the Texas-Louisiana coast may get as much as 15 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.

Ike could inflict between $5 billion and $15 billion of insured damage depending on how much it intensifies, said Steve Smith, atmospheric physicist for the Carvill reinsurance broker.

Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., the two biggest U.S. railroads, halted some Texas trains in preparation for Ike, while Amtrak stopped passenger service in parts of Texas.

Operations in Houston and nearby Galveston were shutting down or already idled, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern said today. Kansas City Southern, the fifth-largest railroad, also suspended traffic headed for that region along the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center heeded the evacuation order and prepared to shut its 1,600-acre base in Houston that houses Mission Control and the training ground for astronauts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ahOZo8NH9e20&refer=us#

Bailouts Will Push US into Depression: Manager

The end result of the global economic slowdown may be the U.S. announcing national bankruptcy as the government cannot afford the bailouts that it promised and the market will not bail out the government, Martin Hennecke, senior manager of private clients at Tyche, told CNBC on Thursday.

“We expect a depression in the United States. We expect a depression, very possibly, also in Europe,” Hennecke said on “Worldwide Exchange.”

The estimated $300 billion cost of the Fannie/Freddie bailout will probably be considered as a loss that the government will have to take, therefore passing it on to taxpayers, he explained.

“We already have $3 trillion of debt, as far as the U.S. government is concerned. These debt figures across the U.S. economy are rising very sharply.”

When the government can no longer pass the United States’ “immense debt” on to taxpayers, it will turn to the holders of U.S. dollars, leading to the eventual downfall of the currency, Hennecke said.

“Definitely, it (the dollar) is not a safe place to be invested in, as real inflation is closer to 10 or 11 percent than the actual inflation numbers given by the U.S. government,” Hennecke said on “Worldwide Exchange”.

Investors should avoid exposure to debt and stay away from leveraging on any investment or asset, including property, Hennecke advised, adding that “banks have been too highly leveraged in the past, private households, everybody.”

Hennecke’s stock allocations are mainly Asian-based, especially in the Chinese market as the country’s government has a large amount of cash and the macroeconomics are fundamentally strong.

He also suggested investing in gold, despite the recent fall in price.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26656750/

Venezuela’s Chavez says US ambassador must leave

*BAAAAAAAD news.*

President Hugo Chavez ordered the U.S. ambassador to leave Venezuela in 72 hours and said he was immediately withdrawing his ambassador from Washington.

Chavez said Thursday night that U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy is no longer welcome, just as his close ally Bolivia expelled the American envoy from La Paz a day earlier.

“They’re trying to do here what they were doing in Bolivia,” Chavez said, accusing Washington of trying to oust him.

“That’s enough … from you, Yankees,” he said during a televised rally, using an expletive.

The socialist leader said Venezuela’s ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, would return to the U.S. “when there’s a new government in the United States.”

The move by Chavez brings relations with Washington to a new low and raises questions about whether the diplomatic clash could hurt trade. Venezuela is the fourth-largest oil supplier to the United States, and Chavez threatened on Thursday to cut off crude shipments “if there’s any aggression against Venezuela.”

He has made similar threats in the past, but the United States is his No. 1 oil client and taking such an action would debilitate his government financially.

Chavez, long at odds with Washington, appeared to leave open the door for restoring full relations once President George W. Bush’s successor is in the White House.

“Hopefully, sooner than later, (the U.S.) will have a government that respects the peoples and the governments of Latin America,” Chavez said.

Chavez warned last month that Duddy could soon be “packing his bags” after the diplomat lamented that U.S. and Venezuelan officials have not been cooperating in the war on drugs.

Duddy has said that deteriorating diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington were giving drug smugglers the upper hand.

Chavez announced the decision to oust Duddy hours after saying his government had detained a group of alleged conspirators in a plot to overthrow him. He accused the group of current and former military officers of trying to assassinate him with backing from the United States.

U.S. officials have repeatedly denied Chavez’s accusations of backing plots against him.

Asked about Chavez’s remarks, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Jennifer Rahimi said: “We saw the speech and we’re investigating, but we haven’t seen anything official.”

Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. grew this week after two Russian strategic bombers were deployed to the country at Chavez’s invitation.

“The presence of those Russian planes in Venezuela is a warning,” Chavez said. “There’s nothing better to keep yourself from being attacked than to dissuade.”

The president said that behind the conspiracy to overthrow him were “the same coup-plotters” who masterminded a failed 2002 coup — which he also blamed on the Bush administration.

Chavez ordered an investigation of the alleged plot, which he said involved an active vice admiral and other former military officers. He said his intelligence services had been “following this for some time.”

Military prosecutors were questioning several officers about their alleged involvement, Defense Minister Gen. Gustavo Rangel Briceno said.

Chavez ally Mario Silva, who hosts a program on state television, first played recordings of the purported coup plotters’ phone conversations late Wednesday. It was unclear when they were recorded.

In one, a voice identified as an ex-officer said “we’re going to take” the presidential palace. In another, a voice identified as retired air force Gen. Eduardo Baez Torrealba said “there is a pilot who has 1,000 hours in an F-16” — allegedly to be used in the plot.

Chavez said the authorities have known for some time that the conspirators were “looking for ground-to-air missiles … to try to blow up the presidential plane … or bomb the (presidential) palace with a plane.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us