Report: Bibi called off "Austere Challenge 12" to concentrate on attack

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

http://www.canada.com/news/Israel+postpone+joint+military+drill+radio/5998780/story.html

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Does the inanity of what you post ever bother you, Jmfcst?

[CLARENCE 2015!]

This is an outrage- almost as much as the State Dept criticizing the "innocent" scientist's death

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Fun fact: Obama has a 54% approval rating in Israel.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The link you gave slightly slants things, jmfcst.  Austere Challenge is an annual exercise the European Command holds. Israel is not always a participant, but is this year because a centerpiece of Austere Challenge 12 is the Arrow ABM they've been building with our money.

Postponing AC12 to late this year places it in the next fiscal year rather than the current fiscal year, so the budgetary reasons are probably more than a diplomatic fig leaf.

As for other considerations, besides the one you are focusing on, another is that since AC12 will likely include a launch test of the new Arrow 3, they might be using the budgetary reasons as an excuse to delay the launch if they aren't certain it will work.  While a successful test of Arrow 3 would be useful, a failed test would be counterproductive.  In that case, delaying to a less stressful time, or at least until a test needs to be made to permit development to proceed would be sensible, but admitting that was why you were delaying would not be.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This is an outrage- almost as much as the State Dept criticizing the "innocent" scientist's death

The killings of Iranian scientist are terrorist actions----just like the Iranian plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in DC. It should be condemned in my opinion.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

This is an outrage- almost as much as the State Dept criticizing the "innocent" scientist's death

The killings of Iranian scientist are terrorist actions----just like the Iranian plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in DC. It should be condemned in my opinion.

and stuxnet is an act of war...what's your point?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

now the twist:

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Joint US-Israel drill called off by Netanyahu, to Washington's surprise

  Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahudebkafile's sources disclose exclusively that, contrary to recent reports published in Washington, Jerusalem - and this site too - it was Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not the Obama administration, who decided to call off the biggest ever joint US-Israeli military exercise Austere Challenge 12 scheduled for April 2012.
Washington was taken aback by the decision. It was perceived as a mark of Israel's disapproval for the administration's apparent hesitancy in going through with the only tough sanctions with any chance of working against Iran's nuclear weapon program: penalizing its central bank and blocking payments for its petroleum exports.
This was the first time Israel had ever postponed a joint military exercise; it generated a seismic moment in relations between the US and Israel at a time when Iran has never been so close to producing a nuclear weapon.

This week, Netanyahu further orchestrated a series of uncharacteristically critical statements by senior ministers: Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon called the Obama administration "hesitant" (Jan. 15), after which Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman urged the Americans to "move from words to deeds" (Jan 16).
The underlying message was that the Israeli government felt free to attack Iran's nuclear sites on its own if necessary and at a time of its choosing.
debkafile's sources report that Netanyahu decided on this extreme course after careful consideration when he judged the Obama administration's resolve to preempt a nuclear Iran to be flagging, as indicated by four omissions:

1. Washington has taken no action against Iran's capture of the RQ-170 stealth drone on Dec. 4 more than a month after the event, and not even pressed President Obama's demand of Dec. 12 for the drone's return.
Tehran, for its part, continues to make hay from the event: This week, our Iranian sources report, the Islamic Republic circulated a new computer game called "Down the RQ-170."  Players assemble the drone from the components shown on their screens and then launch it for attacks on America.

2.  Silence from Washington also greeted the start of 20-percent grade uranium enrichment at the underground Fordo facility near Qom when it was announced Jan. 9. Last November, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned in two US TV interviews (Nov. 17 and 22) that as soon as the Fordo facility went on stream, Iran would start whisking the rest of its nuclear facilities into underground bunkers, out of reach and sight of US and Israeli surveillance.
Barak made it clear at the time that Israel could not live with this development; therefore, the Netanyahu government believes Israel's credibility is now at stake.
3.  Exactly three weeks ago, on Jan. 3 Lt. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, Iran's Army chief, announced that the aircraft carrier USS Stennis and other "enemy ships" would henceforth be barred from entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz . Yet since then, no US carrier has put this threat to the test by attempting a crossing. Tehran has been left to crow.
4.  Even after approving sanctions on Iran's central bank and energy industry, the White House announced they would be introduced in stages in the course of the year. According to Israeli's calculus, another six months free of stiff penalties will give Iran respite for bringing its nuclear weapon program to a dangerous and irreversible level.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

pentagon:  israel called off "Austere Challenge 12" for technical reasons

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Panetta-US-fully-prepared-for-an-Iran-challenge-2612649.php

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one wonders how much all those US forces in the region, if the exercise had been carried out, would get in the way of an Israeli strike on Iran