US military to present Trump with several options on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will present a broad range of military options to President Donald Trump on Friday as he considers how to respond to what administration officials say was an unprecedented Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

In a White House meeting, the Republican president will be presented with a list of potential airstrike targets inside Iran, among other possible responses, and he will be warned that military action against the Islamic Republic could escalate into war, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The national security meeting will likely be the first opportunity for a decision on how the U.S. should respond to the attack on a key Middle East ally. Any decision may depend on what kind of evidence the U.S. and Saudi investigators are able to provide proving that the cruise missile and drone strike was launched by Iran, as a number of officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have asserted.

Iran has denied involvement and warned the U.S. that any attack will spark an “all-out war” with immediate retaliation from Tehran.

Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence have condemned the attack on Saudi oil facilities as “an act of war.” Pence said Trump will “review the facts, and he’ll make a decision about next steps. But the American people can be confident that the United States of America is going to defend our interest in the region, and we’re going to stand with our allies.”

The U.S. response could involve military, political and economic actions, and the military options could range from no action at all to airstrikes or less visible moves such as cyberattacks. One likely move would be for the U.S. to provide additional military support to help Saudi Arabia defend itself from attacks from the north, since most of its defenses have focused on threats from Houthis in Yemen to the south.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized to a small number of journalists traveling with him Monday that the question of whether the U.S. responds is a “political judgment” and not for the military.

“It is my job to provide military options to the president should he decide to respond with military force,” Dunford said.

Trump will want “a full range of options,” he said. “In the Middle East, of course, we have military forces there and we do a lot of planning and we have a lot of options.”

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said in an interview Thursday that if Trump “chooses an option that involves a significant military strike on Iran that, given the current climate between the U.S. and Iran, there is a possibility that it could escalate into a medium to large-scale war, I believe the president should come to Congress.”

Slotkin, a former top Middle East policy adviser for the Pentagon, said she hopes Trump considers a broad range of options, including the most basic choice, which would be to place more forces and defensive military equipment in and around Saudi Arabia to help increase security.

A forensic team from U.S. Central Command is pouring over evidence from cruise missile and drone debris, but the Pentagon said the assessment is not finished. Officials are trying to determine if they can get navigational information from the debris that could provide hard evidence that the strikes came from Iran.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Thursday that the U.S. has a high level of confidence that officials will be able to accurately determine exactly who launched the attacks last weekend.

U.S. officials were unwilling to predict what kind of response Trump will choose. In June, after Iran shot down an American surveillance drone, Trump initially endorsed a retaliatory military strike then abruptly called it off because he said it would have killed dozens of Iranians. The decision underscores the president’s long-held reluctance to embroil the country in another war in the Middle East.

Instead, Trump opted to have U.S. military cyber forces carry out a strike against military computer systems used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to control rocket and missile launchers, according to U.S. officials.

The Pentagon said the U.S. military is working with Saudi Arabia to find ways to provide more protection for the northern part of the country.

Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters Wednesday that U.S. Central Command is talking with the Saudis about ways to mitigate future attacks. He would not speculate on what types of support could be provided.

Other U.S. officials have said adding Patriot missile batteries and enhanced radar systems could be options, but no decisions have been made.

climate change cartoons 2019

California looks for ways to preserve environmental clout

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In eliminating California’s authority to set its own emission standards for cars and trucks, the Trump administration would take away leverage the state needs to convince the world’s largest automakers to make more environmentally friendly vehicles.

But one California lawmaker is already working on a way to preserve at least some of the state’s environmental muscle: rebates for electric cars.

California residents who buy or lease a zero-emission vehicle can get up to $7,000 from the state. A bill by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting would mean people could only get that money if they buy a car from a company that has agreed to follow California’s emission standards.

The proposal comes as the Trump administration on Wednesday announced it was revoking California’s authority to set its own auto emission standards — authority it has had for decades under a waiver from the federal Clean Air Act.

California has 35 million registered vehicles, giving it outsized influence with the auto industry. That heft was on display in July, when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced four automakers — Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen — agreed to follow California’s standards, bypassing the Trump administration, which had been working on new rules.

California officials have been negotiating with other automakers to follow suit, but those talks stalled Wednesday when Trump announced, via Twitter, that he was revoking California’s authority to set its own emission standards.

But Ting’s proposal, first reported by CalMatters, shows California has other ways it could entice automakers to follow its environmental lead. David Vogel, a professor emeritus of business ethics at the Haas School of Business of the University of California-Berkeley, noted California could accomplish its goals through various tax changes, which the federal government could not stop.

“Even if the Trump administration would win on this, California could use taxes to accomplish much of the same goals,” Vogel said. “The federal government would have less of an ability to challenge, because states can pretty much tax who they want.”

The California Legislature adjourned for the year last week. But before they left, they amended Assembly Bill 40 to include the new language so they could debate it when they return to work in January.

State officials could use the tactic to aid negotiations with Toyota and General Motors, two manufacturers that make electric cars but have so far not agreed to California’s emission standards. It’s unclear how effective the law would be as California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project has a waiting list.

A Toyota spokesman declined to comment.

Ting, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment. But he is scheduled to speak with reporters about the issue on Thursday.

Asked about the proposal on Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would make an announcement by Friday, but he did not elaborate.

In a tweet, Trump said his action to revoke California’s authority to set its own emission standards would result in less expensive, safer cars. He also predicted Americans would purchase more new cars, which would result in cleaner air as older models are taken off the roads.

“Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Automakers should seize this opportunity because without this alternative to California, you will be out of business,” Trump tweeted.

U.S. automakers contend that without year-over-year increases in fuel efficiency that align with global market realities their vehicles could be less competitive, potentially resulting in job losses. However, most of the industry favors increases in standards that are less than the Obama-era requirements, saying their consumers are gravitating to SUVs and trucks rather than buying more efficient cars.

Top California officials and environmental groups pledged legal action on Wednesday to stop the rollback, potentially tying up the issue for years in federal courts. The U.S. transportation sector is the nation’s biggest single source of greenhouse gasses.

Trump’s claim that his proposal would result in a cleaner environment is contrary to his own administration’s estimate that by freezing economy standards, U.S. fuel consumption would increase by about 500,000 barrels per day, a 2% to 3% increase. Environmental groups predict even more fuel consumed, resulting in higher pollution.

The administration argues that lower-cost vehicles would allow more people to buy new ones that are safer, cutting roadway deaths by 12,700 lives through the 2029 model year. But The Associated Press reported last year that internal EPA emails show senior career officials privately questioned the administration’s calculations, saying the proposed freeze would actually modestly increase highway fatalities, by about 17 deaths annually.

Israelis contend with prospect of third poll days after vote

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis were contending with the prospect of a third election on Thursday, two days after an unprecedented repeat election left the country’s two main political parties deadlocked, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his rivals holding a clear path to a coalition government.

While weeks of negotiations to form a coalition government lay ahead, conditions set by the parties could hobble the task within the allotted time, prompting a never-before held third election.

With nearly all votes counted Thursday, the centrist Blue and White party stood at 33 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud stood at 31 seats.

“Everyone will need to get off their high horse to prevent elections for the third time,” Likud lawmaker David Bitan told Israeli Army Radio. “Blue and White’s desire for a unity government under their terms will not work.”

Neither party can form a government without the support of the election’s apparent kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beitenu party. His insistence on a secular government would force out Netanyahu’s traditional allies, the country’s two ultra-Orthodox parties and another nationalist-religious party.

Benny Gantz’s Blue and White has pledged not to sit in the same government as Netanyahu, as the long-serving Israeli leader is expected to face indictment in a slew of corruption scandals. The fiercely loyal Likud is unlikely to oust Netanyahu.

After meeting with his traditional allies Wednesday, Netanyahu on Thursday called on Gantz to join him in a unity government.

“Throughout the campaign I called for a right-wing government, but unfortunately the election results show that’s not possible,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “Therefore there is no choice but to form a broad unity government.”

“We cannot and there is no reason to go to third elections,” he added.

Both parties were meeting with allies in the vote’s aftermath and the focus will soon shift to President Reuven Rivlin, who will consult with all parties in the coming days and select the candidate who he believes has the best chance of putting together a stable coalition.

The candidate has 42 days to do so and, if he fails, the president can give another candidate 28 days to form a coalition. If that fails, the president can assign another parliament member the task of building a government, or he can call new elections, something that has never happened. Rivlin has promised he will do everything in his power to prevent a third election.

The deadlock follows the second Israeli elections this year, which were called because Netanyahu failed to cobble together a coalition following the April vote. Israelis endured a caustic campaign that saw a combative Netanyahu fighting for his political survival amid the recommendation by Israel’s attorney general to indict him on charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud pending a hearing in early October.

Netanyahu had sought an outright majority with his allies in hopes of passing legislation to give him immunity from the expected indictment, which would otherwise increase the pressure on Netanyahu to step aside.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, who this summer surpassed Israel’s founding prime minister to become the country’s longest-serving leader. During the campaign Netanyahu cast himself as a seasoned statesman who was the only candidate able to steer Israel through a sea of challenges.

His challenger, Blue and White’s Benny Gantz, a former army chief, tried to paint Netanyahu as divisive and scandal-plagued, offering himself as a calming influence and honest alternative.

Despite the scorched earth campaign that saw Netanyahu thrash institutions like the media, the police and the electoral committee — and which was tinged with anti-Arab rhetoric — the longtime leader failed to secure the resounding victory he needed to guarantee his political survival and perhaps save himself from a formal indictment.

Size matters? Media praise Elizabeth Warren -- and her crowds

Elizabeth Warren drew an impressive 20,000 people for an anti-corruption speech the other night in the liberal enclave surrounding Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.
Cue the media swoon.
In fact, as Warren has been drawing big crowds, delivering sharp debate performances and inching up in the polls, she has drawn almost no negative press—in marked contrast to Joe Biden.
And the toughest interviewer she’s faced has been liberal comedian Stephen Colbert.
One might even get the impression that most of the media would prefer that an ultra-progressive woman win the nomination as opposed to an old, occasionally stumbling, more moderate white guy who’s been a Washington figure for well over four decades.
There’s no question the Massachusetts senator is the hot candidate right now. The WP has a piece saying she’s demonstrated she can “match the spectacle of Trump, right down to the large, cheering throngs.”
The president, known for bragging about his crowd size since his inauguration, took a swipe at Warren, telling reporters that that “anybody” can attract crowds “standing in the middle of Manhattan in the most densely populated area of the country.”
Big crowds used to be written off as just the party faithful turning out, but now not so much. They can signify excitement and enthusiasm.
To me, what’s more important than her crowds is the way Warren lingers and poses for selfies with anyone who wants one—for an  exhausting four hours after the New York speech. That’s a personal touch that makes her approachable, and it’s hard to imagine Bernie Sanders doing something similar.
But the fact remains that Warren, whose embrace of Medicare for All means she would abolish private insurance for 150 million Americans, may be too liberal to win a general election. With a few exceptions, media outlets rarely focus on her potential vulnerabilities or such controversies as her past work for the kind of big corporations she now bashes.
An MSNBC interview with Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night was a lovefest. Maddow praised Warren’s crowds and selfies and asked such questions as, “How do you map that model of social change, of big structural change?”
By contrast, Colbert pressed Warren about her health insurance plan on the “Late Show.” She has successfully deflected these questions at the last two debates, with moderators simply giving up and moving on.
Colbert, a liberal who detests Donald Trump, has turned out to be adept at questioning Democratic candidates, sometimes with humorous barbs. He challenged Biden on his constant gaffes as well.
He told the candidate that she keeps being challenged in debates about how she’ll pay for her health plan, paused for effect, and said: “How are you going to pay for it? Are you going to raise the middle-class taxes?”
Warren reframed the question, as she always does: “Costs are going to go up for the wealthiest Americans, for big corporations--”
He asked again: Will middle-class taxes go up?
“Well, here’s the thing,” Warren began.
“No, here’s the thing. I’ve listened to these answers a few times before,” Colbert said, before suggesting she simply defend the tax hike.
Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, explicitly came out yesterday against Medicare for All, telling CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the more feasible path for Democrats is expanding ObamaCare. The speaker knows a land mine when she sees one.
The chatter among pundits now is that Warren could overtake Biden, especially if she wins Iowa and then her neighboring state of New Hampshire. In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, she trails Biden by just 6 points and is statistically tied among white voters, 28 percent to Biden’s 27 percent.
Her problem is that Biden crushes her, 49 to 13 percent, among black voters, who are crucial in South Carolina and then in the big industrial states. She just doesn’t have the same kind of connection as Barack Obama’s vice president.
If Warren keeps surging toward the nomination, the press at some point will be forced to give her tougher scrutiny. But for now, they’re largely content to chronicle her rise and marvel at the size of her crowds.

Bernie Sanders’ Iowa political director has left campaign, reports say

Just days after a shakeup in the New Hampshire leadership of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign comes word that the candidate’s Iowa political director has departed as well.
According to reports, a Sanders aide on Wednesday confirmed that Jess Mazour, who was named Sanders’ Iowa director in March, was let go from the campaign in recent weeks.
The aide confirmed the departure on condition of anonymity because the aide wasn’t authorized to discuss personnel matters, The Associated Press reported.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at George Washington University in Washington, July 17, 2019. (Associated Press)

Prior to joining the sanders campaign, Mazour was an organizer for the progressive group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. The Washington Post was first to report that she had left the campaign.
On Sunday, the Sanders campaign announced changes to its New Hampshire leadership after backers of the campaign expressed concern that the independent U.S. senator from neighboring Vermont could lose the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary early next year.
The campaign announced that Shannon Jackson, who ran Sanders’ Senate reelection campaign in Vermont in 2018, would take over New Hampshire leadersip duties from Joe Caiazzo, who was transferred to Sanders’ operation in Massachusetts, according to the Washington Times.
The Caiazzo-Jackson switch came one day after the Sanders campaign parted ways with senior New Hampshire adviser Kurt Ehrenberg.
The changes in the Sanders campaign coincide with the loss of a key endorsement for Sanders to rival 2020 progressive candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who this week attracted the backing of the Working Families Party -- a group that had supported Sanders in 2016.
“Seeing the campaign not be able to outshine Warren with WFP progressives doesn’t have me questioning WFP’s process,” Rafael Shimunov, a 2016 Sanders volunteer and past national creative director for WFP told Politico. “It has me questioning where the Bernie campaign could have done better, because I want to make sure the strongest candidate unmasks Biden and unseats Trump.”
A Fox News Poll released Wednesday shows that Warren has pulled virtually even with Sanders in second place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, with Sanders attracting support from 18 percent of respondents, Warren 16 percent, and Biden leading with 29 percent.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Townhall Conservative Cartoons 2019

Saudi Arabia joins US-led patrol; Iran says attack a warning

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it joined a U.S.-led coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways amid threats from Iran after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry, while Iran’s president told the kingdom it should see the attack as a warning to end its yearslong war in Yemen.

The kingdom’s decision to enter the International Maritime Security Construct came ahead of a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Saudi officials separately planned to share information about the weapons used to attack a Saudi oil field and the world’s largest crude oil processing plant Saturday.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack. The U.S. accuses Iran of being behind the assault, while Saudi Arabia already has said “Iranian weaponry” was used. Iran denies that, though it comes amid a summer of heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.

“Almost certainly it’s Iranian-backed,” Prince Khalid bin Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, told the BBC. “We are trying not to react too quickly because the last thing we need is more conflict in the region.”

The state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a statement Wednesday morning quoting an unnamed official saying the kingdom had joined the International Maritime Security Construct.

Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom already have joined the mission.

“The kingdom’s accession to this international alliance comes in support of regional and international efforts to deter and counter threats to maritime navigation and global trade,” the news agency said.

Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, declined to comment on the Saudi announcement, saying it “would be inappropriate to comment on the status of individual nations and the nature of any potential support.”

The coalition aims to secure the broader Persian Gulf region. It includes surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, and the Bab el-Mandeb, another narrow strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden off Yemen and East Africa. Smaller patrol boats and other craft will be available for rapid response. The plan also allows for nations to escort their own ships through the region.

The U.S. blames Iran for the apparent limpet mine explosions on four vessels in May and another two in June sailing in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, something Iran denies being behind. Iran also seized a British-flagged oil tanker and another based in the United Arab Emirates.

It’s unclear what role the kingdom will play in the coalition. Bahrain already serves at the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his Cabinet that Saudi Arabia should see the attack as a warning to end its war in Yemen, where it has fought the Houthi rebels since 2015 and sought to restore the internationally recognized government.

Rouhani said Yemenis “did not hit hospitals, they did not hit schools or the Sanaa bazaar,” mentioning the Saudi-led coalition’s widely criticized airstrikes.

He added that Iran does not want conflict in the region, but it was the Saudi-led coalition that “waged the war in the region and ruined Yemen.”

“They attacked an industrial center to warn you. Learn the lesson from the warning,” he said, portraying the Houthis as responsible for the drone strikes.

He did not address accusations Iran was behind the attacks in the video shown on state television.

Wednesday’s announcements comes after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said late Tuesday that more than half of the country’s daily crude oil production that was knocked out by an attack had been recovered and that production capacity at its targeted plants would be fully restored by the end of the month.

“Where would you find a company in this whole world that went through such a devastating attack and came out like a phoenix?” Energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said about state-owned Saudi Aramco, which was the target of the attacks. His question to reporters, many of them Saudi, drew applause.

Prince Abdulaziz said Aramco will honor its commitments to its customers this month by drawing from its reserves of crude oil and offering additional crude production from other oil fields. He said production capacity would reach up to 11 million barrels a day by the end of September and 12 million barrels in November.

He said production at the Abqaiq processing facility is currently at 2 million barrels per day.

Oil prices spiked Monday, with benchmark Brent crude having the biggest percentage gain since the 1991 Gulf War. Prices dropped Tuesday around the Saudi announcement. Brent traded Wednesday morning around the same prices as the day before, with a barrel costing over $64.

Pompeo was due to land in the Red Sea city of Jiddah, where he was scheduled to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pompeo later will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to meet with Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Both nations are U.S. allies and have been fighting against the Houthis in Yemen since March 2015.

The Saudi military planned to speak to journalists Wednesday in Riyadh to discuss the investigation into Saturday’s attack “and present material evidence and Iranian weapons proving the Iranian regime’s involvement.” It did not elaborate.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that U.S. military experts were in Saudi Arabia working with their counterparts to “do the forensics on the attack” — gleaning evidence that could help build a convincing case for where the weapons originated.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced experts from his nation would be traveling to Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom shed light ” on the origin and methods” of the attacks. France has been trying to find a diplomatic solution to the tensions between Iran and the U.S., so any conclusion they draw could be used to show what a third-party assessed happened.

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Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Robert Burns in Washington and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.