Israel Matzav: US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday

US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday

Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arriving in Israel on Sunday for talks about Iran.

U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen will meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as well as Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, and other senior IDF commanders to discuss other topics, including joint defense issues between Israel and the U.S. and mutual security concerns.

Admiral Mullen's meetings follow remarks made by the U.S. on Thursday when they called Iran's nuclear intentions "anything but peaceful."

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"Should Iran continue down the wrongful course that it's on there will be consequences," State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said.

Mullen seems like a decent fellow, but Crowley reminds me of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak absorbing one terror attack after the next in the fall of 2000, all the while warning, "we will know how to respond." Barak figured it out only after Israelis knew how to respond - we threw him out in a special election in February 2001.

Laura Rozen adds:

Mullen's trip to coordinate with Israeli officials follows those of National Security Advisor Jim Jones, NSC Iran strategist Dennis Ross, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Kevin Chilton, the four-star general who heads U.S. Strategic Command, to Israel the past few weeks.

Earlier this month, Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus discussed beefed up missile defense and security cooperation between Iran's Persian Gulf neighbors and the United States.

Something tells me this is more about trying to hold Israel back than about actually doing something.

Israel Matzav: US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday