US ships and Israeli threats with McCain looking doubtful and time running out for Bush's middle east agenda attack is immenent to keep him in Power!

With Bush's middle east new order interference in the middle east in danger as it increasingly looks like McCain's election is not likely Bush and Israel are ratcheting up their threats to instigate war before the elections enabling Bush to stay an control and prosecute his forever wars. As if we do not have enough over there The U.S. Navy has moved the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole and other ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon, Pentagon officials said Thursday. The deployment comes amid a political standoff over Lebanon's presidency, but the Navy would not say whether the events are linked.

"It's a group of ships that will operate in the vicinity for a while and as the ships in our Navy do, the presence is important," Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday. "It isn't meant to send any stronger signal than that," he said. "But it does signal that we're engaged and we are going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very important part of the world." The Cole was badly damaged by an Al Qaeda bombing during a port call in Yemen in 2000, killing 17 sailors. It returned to service in 2002. The destroyer and two support ships are close to Lebanon but out of visual range of the coast, Pentagon officials said. Another six vessels, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau, are close to Italy and steaming toward the other three, the officials said.

Mullen would not say whether the deployment has anything to do with the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary vote on a new president, which was postponed for a 15th time earlier this week. But he said the vote was "important," and Washington was waiting for it to take place. And a Bush administration official told CNN the decision to move ships to the region was a message to neighboring Syria that "the U.S. is concerned about the situation in Lebanon, and we want to see the situation resolved." "We are sending a clear message for the need for stability," said the official, who was not authorized to speak for publication. The ships "should be there a while," the official added. USS Cole and other assets steam to Lebanon">

Hezbollah denounced the deployment of U.S. warships off Lebanon and said Friday it won't be intimidated, while the U.S.-backed Lebanese government distanced itself from the military move. "We did not request any warships from any party," U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said, hours after the U.S. military announced it was sending ships off Lebanon. He insisted the U.S. ships would cruise off the coast, not in Lebanese territorial waters. Saniora, who has been accused by the opposition of following U.S. policy, spoke in front of Arab diplomats at government headquarters in Beirut after his Hezbollah opponents called the U.S. deployment a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and independence. The U.S. military said Thursday the Navy was sending at least three ships, including an amphibious assault ship, to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon.

"We are facing an American threat against Lebanon," Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said. "It is clear this threat and intimidation will not affect us," he said on local television. Bush naval threat will do its job of instigation to war

The instigation is doing its job, It is a clear message alright! The US is concerned time is running out for Bush, he wants his way period, and Israel is preparing to give him the excuse to have it and Bush will be in position to take advantage. An Israeli minister gave warning today that the Gaza faces a “holocaust” if Islamist militants there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets, and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles. “The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves,” Matan Vilnai, the Deputy Defense Minister said.

The use of the term "holocaust" is usually restricted to descriptions of the Nazi genocide of the Jews in Europe in the Second World War, and many Israelis resent its use in any other context. Mr Vilnai’s deployment of the word appeared to show Israel’s growing frustration that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza refuse to curb their attacks, despite heavy tolls inflicted in Israeli air strikes and tank raids.Israel has killed more than 30 Palestinians, including four children and a baby, in the past two days amid a dramatic escalation of the cross-border war. Palestinians have fired close to 130 rockets in the same period, killing one man on an Israeli campus.

Israeli defense officials said that preparations for a large-scale ground offensive to storm Gaza and break Hamas have been completed, but that they are waiting for improved weather conditions to begin what many predict would be a hugely bloody offensive into the crowded streets of Gaza’s cities and refugee slums. Many observers worry that Israel could be dragged back into a costly, long-term military occupation of Gaza, which may not even halt the rocket fire. Militants have been firing them for seven years, while Israel only ended its occupation of the Strip two years ago. “We’re getting close to using our full strength. Until now, we’ve used a small percentage of the army’s power because of the nature of the territory,” Mr Vilnai said.

Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister, was reported in the Israeli media to have sent messages to world leaders giving warning of an impending conflagration in Gaza, but insisted that Hamas’s endless rocket attacks have left Israel with no choice but to attack. “Hamas bears responsibility for this deterioration and it will also bear the results,” he said. Ismail Haniyah, the dismissed Hamas Prime Minister who has largely avoided public appearances for fear of being a target of Israel, warned worshippers at a mosque that they were looking at open conflict. “Gaza today faces a real war, a crazy war led by the enemy against our people,” he said, condemning the Arab world’s silence over the escalating violence and accusing it of “encouraging the Israeli aggression”. Israel threatens to unleash Holocaust

* Time is rapidly running out for everyone desiring to ratchet this up on all sides with Bush's time to find a reason to attack running short and John McCain's election the person who would stay the course so Bush will not have to make a move that would put American stability in Jeopardy is looking increasingly less likely. This middle east explosion instigated by Bush is getting closer. We have been saying for quite a while it has to happen before 2008 winds down and it will but what about China? What about Russia's subs, missiles, and other Naval assets in the area? Hold on people time is running out!

James Joiner
Gardner Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com