Bulletin N°244



Subject : ON SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR UNDERSTANDING THE WAR.



18 July 2006
Grenoble, France

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
We have received much information as the expansion of the U.S. imperialist war in the Middle East continues. On the structure and function of military strategy, Clarl Von Clauswitz wrote in his classic treatise, On War (1832) :

We must not stop at the testing of a means for the immediate goal,
but test also this goal as a means to a higher one, and thus ascend
the series of facts in succession, until we come to one so absolutely
necessary as to require no examination or proof.

What, we might ask, is the higher goal of the Israeli-U.S. military alliance?


Examining the history of the Israeli war against the Palestinian people, the documentary film, The Iron Wall, should serve to help illustrate the use of tactics in the service of a Grand Strategy.

Documentary Film
The Iron Wall
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13749.htm


The 6 items below offer further information on this contemporary episode of  U.S. military expansion into the Middle East. When our readers look at the following items of information, as material for further analysis, we encourage them to keep in mind the wisdom of the 4th-century B.C. Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War :

Weapons are ominous tools to be used only when there is no alternative. ...
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never
be in peril. ...
To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of
skill. To win over the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. ...
Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

Such tactics, it would seem, are of  supreme importance to the international peace movement, as well. . . .


Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies/
Director of Research
Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/


______________
A.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm

Is an ambitious 1996 Middle East policy paper. A Clean Break recommended toppling the government of Iraq, "rolling back" Syria and Iran, and "electrifying" support for Israel in the US Congress in exchange for new missile defense contract opportunities. Three of the eight authors have since become prominent policymakers in the U.S. government.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1438.htm

________________
B.
from Stratfor Intelligence Report :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/


Israeli is preparing the battlefield



We are now in the period preceding major conventional operations. Israel is in the process of sealing the Lebanese coast. They have disrupted Lebanese telecommunications, although they have not completely collapsed the structure. Israeli aircraft are attacking Hezbollah's infrastructure and road system. In the meantime, Hezbollah, aware it is going to be hit hard, is in a use-it or-lose-it scenario, firing what projectiles it can into Israel.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14005.htm


__________________
C.
from Linda McQuaig :


Wildly disproportionate attack on Lebanon seems like pretext to confront Iran
By Linda McQuaig


Is it really Iran that is pushing for war? Think about it. Why would Iran want to provoke a war with Israel and the U.S. ­ both heavily armed nuclear powers ­ when it has no nuclear weapons itself?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14013.htm


______________
D.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/


U.S. grants Israelis a green light

The effective U.S. green light to Israel appeared to leave the United States at odds with most of its allies
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/16/news/policy.php


_______________
E.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/


In Pictures: Israeli Attacks Kill Civilians

- Warning - Graphic Images
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14014.htm



_______________
F.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/


Israeli strikes are part of a broader strategy

Israel, with U.S. support, intends to resist calls for a cease-fire and continue a longer-term strategy of punishing Hezbollah, which is likely to include several weeks of precision bombing in Lebanon, according to senior Israeli and U.S. officials.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13884768/