Letter to Turkey's President: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Here is an outstanding letter from a Turkish-American academic and tenured scholar. Turkey quit being a friend or ally to the West several years in the past. The Turkish support of the 'flotilla intifada', working more closely than ever with Iran, attacking Israel in every way but an outright military attack. From
the Investigative Project On Terrorism.

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An Open Letter to Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister. You have accomplished in eight years what no other contemporary Turkish politician could achieve. You have successfully entered the final stages in your efforts to transform Atatürk's Turkey into an Arab-style Islamist dictatorship. Some people had warned the world 20 years ago about the likely Islamist outcome of the September 12, 1980 military coup—a momentous point in Turkey's history that "masterfully crushed" the Turkish left. They were right. You are here. Today.

How proud you must feel. After all your hard work, some of the Islamist Turks that you encouraged to sail to Gaza have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. You and your fellow Islamists have been celebrating this like nothing I can recall. You have immediately declared them as şehitler (shuheda, the martyrs). With this Arab-style "martyrdom" discourse, you have surely strengthened your image in the entire Arab world and among the Ahmadinejad followers in Iran. Not surprisingly, you have even managed to nourish most of your citizens' anti-Jewish and anti-American sentiments. Your fellow Turkish Islamists, the great majority of the Turkish liberals, and, unfortunately, the many manipulated but otherwise ordinary, beautiful, innocent Muslims joined you and your not-so-strategically-deep brothers.

Congratulations on your jihadist "victory" over the "evil" Israel and the West. By the way, Mr. Erdoğan, instead of sending others to a certain death, would you ever consider yourself becoming a martyr on Allah's path? I mean, the real thing—in the language you understand —al-jihad fi sebili'llah? Although it might be much more painful than preaching and practicing political Islam, would you ever consider it?

Your partner Bülent Yıldırım's Islamist ship embarked toward Gaza amidst the crowds shouting "Allahu Akbar!" "Remember the Battle of Khaybar, O Jews! The Army of Muhammad will return!" You know, Mr. Erdoğan, that the IHH (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsanî Yardım Vakfı, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief) is not just a "humanitarian organization." Their Islamist vessel was not a pleasure cruise ship. Most of its passengers had a jihadist, political mission, and they have accomplished it.

Your Islamist government declared the 17-year old high school student Furkan Doğan as "martyr." He wrote the following in his diary on the Mavi Marmara before the confrontation with the IDF: "The last hours towards the 'sweet juice of martyrdom'… Is there anything more beautiful than this? If there is, it is for sure my mother… But I am not sure about that either… Comparing the two is very difficult for me…"

Mr. Prime Minister, thanks to solely the vision and project of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, despite you and the vicious ideology you have been practicing, the Republic of Turkey has world-class medical professionals to assist you in interpreting this Jihadist condition.

Now the world is hearing evidence that the IHH has connections to Hamas, Hezbollah, IBDA-C, and al-Qaida. I know you have recently declared that "Hamas is not a terrorist organization." Will you also join the millions of Islamists throughout the world and pronounce publically that "al-Qaida is not a terrorist organization"? About a year ago, your Islamist brother Bülent Yıldırım delivered a jihadist speech in Gaza to tens of thousands of Hamas supporters declaring Israel, the United States and England as "terrorist countries." Yıldırım addressed the Hamas supporters as "the children of paradise." He openly offered the entire population of Istanbul to come to Gaza to "dive into the path of the bombs." And he added: "What can my enemy do to me? I am carrying paradise in my heart. My being killed is nothing but martyrdom!"

Please Mr. Erdoğan, please do not listen to your Islamist brother's advice. Do not send the 13 million people of Istanbul to be "martyred" in Gaza for the love of Hamas.

After the flotilla incident, thousands of your citizens chanted anti-Jewish slogans and called for the Turkish army's deployment to Gaza. Mr. Erdoğan, I am sure it is a tough call for you. After all, you and your dark, mafia-like Islamist forces have already declared the Turkish army itself as "the enemy of Islam." Many honorable members of the Turkish Armed Forces have been rotting in Turkish jails thanks to your so-called "Ergenekon" trials. Through the Ergenekon pretext, you have managed to declare many high-ranking officers of your own army, hundreds of Kemalist journalists, university professors, rectors, and many other intellectuals as "terrorists."

If Hamas is not a terrorist organization, I've got another question for you, Mr. Erdoğan: What if some countries start deploying "humanitarian aid ships" to the PKK in Turkey tomorrow? What if they argue that the PKK is not a terrorist organization? Regardless of what your "strategically deep" Islamist brothers might advise you, let me tell you, Mr. Erdoğan, what I really think: Both Hamas and the PKK are blood-thirsty terrorist organizations that the civilized world must destroy, and any kind of "help" to those organizations should be considered a crime against humanity.

Mr. Erdoğan, do you even care about the ordinary, normal Muslims of your own country and of the world? If you do, then why have you successfully established such frightening friendships and contacts with some of the most dangerous and brutal dictators of the so-called Islamic world? I know your honor is very valuable to you and sensitive. How does your honor handle and justify extending official invitations to the cruel Islamist dictator Ahmadinejad to Turkey? As the Prime Minister of Turkey, what honor is there in fulfilling his holy request not to have to visit Atatürk's mausoleum in Ankara? What will you eventually do with the dictator's enriched uranium in Turkey? Will you join him by declaring "now Turkey needs nuclear energy, too"?

No, Mr. Erdoğan, neither Iran nor Turkey needs nuclear weapons developed under the guise of peaceful energy needs. Both of these countries need genuine democracies, freedoms, and liberation from Islamism. The world does not believe in such nuke-seeking Islamist lies. Even the Islamists themselves do not believe their own lies. It is a deception, and you know it very well. How does it feel, Mr. Erdoğan, when you give hugs and kisses to the terrorist Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya? How does your honor justify it? When was the last time, Mr. Erdoğan, that an honorable Turkish leader bowed in front of the appalling dictators of Saudi Arabia, the main source of Islamist terror throughout the world? How does your honor handle it? Last but not least, how do you sleep at night, Mr. Erdoğan, when you officially invite the genocidal maniac Omar al-Bashir to Turkey? He is responsible for butchering hundreds of thousands of Muslims. Did it ever occur to you to send some "humanitarian ships" to Sudan?

When it comes to demanding more freedom for Islamism, you talk big, Mr. Erdoğan, by defending and using democracy. In reality, you have a conveniently narrow understanding of the concept of democracy. During your long single-party dictatorship, your citizens cannot even talk on their phones freely: they fear they are being constantly monitored and recorded. Anyone who dares to criticize you and your radical views might find himself or herself in jail the following week. You have, Mr. Erdoğan, created an Arab-style regime of oppression. You have turned Atatürk's Turkey into a Republic of Fear.

Mr. Erdoğan, you and your partners in Islamism have been leading Atatürk's Republic of Turkey back into medieval darkness, and you have been doing this under the pretext of democracy and the so-called "alliance of civilizations." Iranian, Arab, Sudanese, and other Islamist dictators have no business referring to their shameful crimes against humanity as "civilization," and you should leave Turkey and Turkish Islam alone. You and your dangerous ambitions have no right to put Atatürk's Turkey into such a position.

Turkey is not and should not be the new Ottoman Empire of the region. Do not try to implement a radical Turkish foreign policy based heavily on the post 9/11 universal Islamism. Such grandiose idealism serves only to help Osama bin Laden's mission to destroy our world. Mr. Prime Minister, the Ottoman Empire is gone. If you have been dreaming that the Ottomans were all about your ideology's perception of "Islam," you are mistaken. You are a Prime Minister, I am a scholar. Mister Erdoğan, based on what you have been reading so far, you might think that I am some sort of "an enemy of Islam" (a dismissive response aimed at critics all over the "Muslim world" especially since 9/11). I am a proud Muslim, Mr. Erdoğan, and I refuse to let leaders like you hijack my religion for their deplorable political "gains."

The Palestinian, Hamas, Iranian, Hezbollah, and many other Islamist "causes" are not—and should never be—Turkish causes. There was a time, Mr. Erdoğan, you had proudly proclaimed: "Democracy is a streetcar. We will ride on it until we reach our destination, then get off!" Please tell the world, Mr. Erdoğan, if you have reached your final destination yet, so we can all get ready for where you may be headed next.

Original article can be found here

Israel send Syria a message to not use those Scud missles.

Israel has sent the terrorist state of Syria a message to not use ballistic missles against the Jewish state. The article states that Washington and so called 'moderate Arab states' are worried and alarmed about this new threat that Israel is facing. Not too worried about Iran obtaining nukes are they, as evidenced by nothing being done against Iran. Washington is worried? About what, Hezbollah's new toys derailing the Mullah Obamaham's appeasing overtures to the Assad regime in Syria? The first Muslim POTUS got his answer when Hezbollah obtained the Scuds.

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Israel warns Syria over Hezbollah attacks

Timesonline,  Israel has delivered a secret warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that it will respond to missile attacks from Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese-based Islamist group, by launching immediate retaliation against Syria itself.

In a message, sent earlier this month, Israel made it clear that it now regards Hezbollah as a division of the Syrian army and that reprisals against Syria will be fast and devastating.

It follows the discovery by Israeli intelligence that Syria has recently supplied long-range ballistic missiles and advanced anti-aircraft systems to Hezbollah.

“We’ll return Syria to the Stone Age by crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dare to launch ballistic missiles against us,” said an Israeli minister, who who was speaking off-the-record, last week.

The warning, which was conveyed to Damascus by a third party, was sent to reinforce an earlier signal by Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister. “If a war breaks out the Assad dynasty will lose its power and will cease to reign in Syria,” he said earlier this year.

The Israeli decision to hold Syria directly responsible for Hezbollah’s actions is believed to be the result of intelligence assessments that Beirut has lost control of the Shi’ite organisation, which has become an increasingly powerful force in Lebanon.

Reports that Syria has supplied Hezbollah with Russian-made Scud ballistic missiles have alarmed Israeli ministers. The missiles have the potential to reach the entire country and could carry chemical warheads. New gas masks are being supplied to Israel’s entire population, with an intensive television advertising campaign underway to stress their importance.

Hezbollah, which was set up in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and fought a 34-day with Israel in 2006, has built-up an arsenal of 40,000 missiles and rockets, according to Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister.

Uzi Rubin, an Israeli missiles expert, estimated that 13,000 are aimed at Israel at any one time. “Iran is financing Hezbollah and Syria, which has opened up its military supplies to them, is being repaid by Iran,” said an Israeli intelligence source.

Over the past few months, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has threatened Israel with reprisals, promising that any attack on Beirut’s airport would be followed by a rocket attack on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.

The supply of Scud missiles to Hezbollah is seen as a serious threat by the Israelis. “This is the first time that an internationally known terror organisation has been equipped with ballistic missiles,” said the minister.

Washington and moderate Middle Eastern leaders, including King Abdullah of Jordan, are worried. “We are obviously increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that is allegedly being transferred,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.

Last week Syria’s Foreign Ministry denied that there had been any transfer of Scud missiles. It claimed the allegations were aimed at giving Israel a pretext to attack Syria and avoid making concessions for peace.

But the Israelis remain defiant. “We’ll not hesitate to attack Syria if our national security is in jeopardy,” said the Israeli minister. “Assad knows that, and he’s playing with fire.”

Lack of a policy on Iran and Syria is pushing Israel into a corner.

This is an excellent summary about what Obama is not doing, even though it is what he does best; nothing. Nothing except apologize, appease and grovel. The Mullah Obamaham has tried to reach out to Syria and this will work as well as it has with Iran, it won't. Syria just recently helped Hezbollah, which now has Scud missles in it's possesion. Yet Obama is still stupid enough to try and engage this Islamonazi state. Obama is pushing not just Israel but the United States into a position of vulnerability. The BIG difference is the Jewish state at some point will take action to make sure Israel survives and flourishes as it always has done since 1948. We could be so fortunate to have a Netanyahu type in the White House. Instead we are sinking with the Mullah Obamaham and his outreach and appeasement to the Islamic world. Pathetic is all I can say, politely.

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US Iran Nuclear Strategy paints a bulls eye on Israel’s back
Iconclast/New English Review

The New York Times published an article about an alleged secret memo by Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent in January to Obama White House National security Adviser Gen. James Jones, saying we have no policy to counter Iran’s nuclear threat. Witness this comment from the Huffington Post:

Gates wrote the three-page memo in January and it set off efforts in the Pentagon, White House and intelligence agencies to come up with new options, including the use of the military, The New York Times said in its Sunday editions, quoting unnamed government officials. White House officials Saturday night strongly disagreed with the comments that the memo caused a reconsideration of the administration's approach to Iran.

"It is absolutely false that any memo touched off a reassessment of our options," National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Rhodes told The Associated Press. "This administration has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran for many months."

One senior official described the memo as "a wake-up call," the paper reported. But the recipient of the document, Gen. James Jones, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, told the newspaper in an interview that the administration has a plan that "anticipates the full range of contingencies."

Sen. John McCain said: "I didn't need a secret memo to know we didn't have a coherent policy," McCain told Fox News's Chris Wallace. "That's pretty obvious."McCain called for serious and meaningful sanctions against Iran. The Arizona Republican spoke on "Fox News Sunday."

The reality is that the Obama Administration may have effectively given up on a coherent strategy including contingency plans for possible military action. Instead, it is pushing for toothless UN Security Council sanctions and propounding the mistaken view that cold war era Mutual Assured Deterrence will work with irrational Mullahs in Tehran. It won't. Remember the thousands of Iranian teenagers the mullahs sent to their deaths in minefields during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s paying salaries to their surviving parents?

Secretary Gates has long ties to an influential coterie which includes James Baker, III, Brent Scowcroft, and Lee Hamilton, Middle East policy advisers, with an appeasement track record. The trio was prominent as leading members of the Congressional chartered bi-partisan Iraq Study Group that issued a report during the Bush Administration. Then there is another Obama Adviser, Zbig Brzezinski, who as you may recall said the US should consider shooting down IAF aircraft on their way across Iraqi airspace to hit nuclear facilities in Iran. Under President Carter he also bolstered what became the decade long Secret War in Afghanistan the in the late 1970's. Brzezinski cut a deal with the Saudis to dislodge Soviet influence during the secret war in Afghanistan that ultimately spawned Bin Laden and al Qaeda.

The Obama Administration appears to be bailing from the troubled Middle East and South Asia. Witness the withdrawals from Iraq this summer and the likelihood of quitting Afghanistan in 2011. It is no secret that Obama is pushing the Saudi peace plan on Israel to save American lives in the region.

Two names left out of the New York Times account of this secret memo are Ambassador Dennis Ross on the NSC staff and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. They clearly have been side-tracked and left out of the loop. Ross was originally going to be the Special Envoy to deal with Iran. Instead Ross was retained as a senior Middle East peace process adviser on the NSC staff. We have heard precious little from these two on the Obama versus Netanyahu contretemps resulting in isolation of Israel and derogation of the long standing special relationship between the two countries.

Israel is alone. It cannot trust its ally America under Obama to come up with a coherent policy to deal with nuclear Iran under the Mullahs. Obama does not want to consider fostering a civil opposition in Iran to overthrow the Mullahs and President Ahmadinejad. The Obama Administration does not want to enact tough sanctions already passed by Congress.

Israel is faced with a dilemma. In order to disable or destroy nuclear weapons assembly facilities in Iran, it must first destroy the rocket and missile caches of Iran's proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as launching facilities in Syria. That is a complicated set of actions to successfully coordinate. The Jennifer Rubin account in Commentary's Contention blog alleges that the Obama Administration stifled an IDF assault on Syrian Scud deliveries to Hezbollah. That Israeli action would have interfered with Obama’s engagement with the Bashir Assad regime in Damascus. The Obama Administration’s outreach to Syria clearly failed to avert the Scud shipments to Hezbollah.

The issue is what can Israel do under these difficult and contentious relations with the Obama Administration? Israel's military planners and covert operations teams must have scenarios for disrupting 'breakout' and targeting facilities in Iran tagged for nuclear weapons assembly. Some suspect that perhaps renegade Russian engineers and scientists engaged in Iran’s nuclear weapons developments may be in the pay of Israel's strategic intelligence service. Thus, Israeli technical intelligence could have sufficient information with which to develop scenarios and contingency plans to disrupt and possibly destroy nuclear weapons assembly. At issue is whether those assembly facilities are above ground, as in the case of the Syria’s al-Kibar nuclear facility destroyed by the IAF in September, 2007, or like the North Korean ones are scattered in underground facilities. The IAF attack on the nuclear weapons assembly facility in Syria proved effective. While the Pentagon confirmed that action, Israel didn't. The implication being that Israel was sending a message to Syria and its Iranian 'partners' that Israel knew what was going on and could destroy comparable facilities in Iran. The Syrian nuclear assembly facility was within range of a conventional IAF attack. Iran’s comparable nuclear assembly facilities may require non-conventional means available in Israel’s high technology arsenal. The consequences of such a unilateral military action by Israel have been viewed as being “unacceptable and having “catastrophic consequences” by Russia’s President Medvedev and US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen. However, Israel must be prepared to act to preserve its existence.

This is a dangerous time for Israel and America. Israel was able to make a convincing case replete with on the ground intelligence about destroying the Syrian nuclear facility. There is no such prospect under Obama who clearly doesn't want Israel to undertake a unilateral pre-emptive attack that would disrupt the Administration's Muslim outreach and nuclear strategy. A nuclear strategy that was unveiled in Washington last week.

These revelations in today's New York Times deepen the impression that as a result of the US not having a coherent strategy to contend with a nuclear Iran, Israel is now a target with a bulls eye painted on its back. Israeli PM Netanyahu knows better than to succumb to this threat. He will act with dispatch to preserve Israel.

From Iconclast/New English Review