He added, "Israeli technology is proving critical to improving our Homeland Security and protecting our troops."
The assistant secretary explained that Israeli armor plating technology and the specially designed "Israeli bandage," now used on American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, are proven successes.
Shapiro also said the exercise will involve more than 5,000 U.S. and Israeli forces, and will simulate Israel's ballistic missile defense.
He did not say, during his WINEP presentation, exactly where these activities will take place.
On Wednesday of this week, Natasha Mozgovaya, chief U.S. correspondent for Haaretz, reported on a WINEP-sponsored report by two US Middle East experts, Robert Blackwill and Walter Slocombe.
"These days, when reporters are mercilessly grilling State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland over the United States' funding cut to UNESCO following its approval of Palestine as member, the argument that Israel is a strategic asset to the U.S. might sound slightly presumptuous.
"But according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy -- as expressed in their latest report, 'Israel: A Strategic Asset for the United States' -- the U.S.-Israel relationship is not a one-way street at all.
"Its authors argue that Americans -- starting with top administrative officials -- should start acknowledging that Israel is a strategic asset for the U.S. They say the U.S.-Israeli relationship 'stands equally on an under appreciated third leg: common national interests and collaborative action to advance those interests.'
"One of the authors, Robert Blackwill, is the former deputy national security adviser for strategic planning and presidential envoy to Iraq, and currently serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Blackwill said Tuesday that contrary to popular opinion, the U.S.-Israel relationship in no way weakens United States' standing in the Arab world."
Mozovaya asked Blackwill and his WINEP co-author, Walter Slocombe, whether they saw the recent vote approving Palestinian membership at UNESCO, as an unfavorable result of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Both Blackwill and Slolcombe, exclaimed, "No!"
It is difficult to imagine two US experienced diplomats actually denying any impact of the US-Israel relationship on the attitude of those Arab and Muslim states who supported Palestine's request for membership in UNESCO.
Unfortunately, they are not alone is their inability to see reality. Look no further than the US Senate.
Illinois US Senator Mark Kirk, who now occupies Barack Obama's old Senate seat, has filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which would impose crippling sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.
The Kirk Senate web site gives a rationale for the amendment which echoes the Bush-Cheney call to arms against Iraq. Does this man have no historical awareness of what that false alarm did to everyone it touched, from the Iraqi and US dead to the US taxpayers? The Kirk site states:
"The Kirk amendment, which comes just days after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran is engaged in activities 'highly relevant to a nuclear weapons program,' follows the bipartisan Schumer-Kirk letter sent to President Obama in August by 92 Senators urging crippling sanctions against Iran's Central Bank.
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