President Barack Obama is planning a classic “October Surprise” involving the Mideast and designed to boost his re-election chances, retired General Paul Vallely tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Vallely, who served in the Vietnam War and retired in 1992 as deputy commanding general, Pacific Command, said he has been tracking reports for some time of an October Surprise. The term is generally associated with the Carter-Reagan 1980 election where the Reagan campaign feared the Carter administration would somehow manage to free the hostages in Iran and pull off a re-election bid.
Watch the exclusive interview here.
“The action that we do need to realize though and as I’ve pointed out before is that we know the Obama administration is grooming and getting prepared for an October Surprise which we think will be of a military nature probably in the Middle East or it could be another option of a massive withdrawal out of Afghanistan to make Obama and his administration look strong in light of being perceived not only here but overseas as very weak,” he said.
Vallely added that there “are reports that we’ve been tracking.”
“I also heard it when I was on the Syrian border and in Turkey that they had gotten word over there that the Obama administration was going to plan something so I got it from more the Middle East area as well as some of our intelligence analysts here in the U.S. that there are plans being made for some kind of a surprise that would be launched in October,” he said. “And it could be support of Israel or it could be something it regards to supporting the Syrian opposition in Syria. We just don’t know at this but certainly when I find out I will make sure that the news knows about it.”
Vallely, co-author of the book End Game: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror, said that the U.S. actions deploying ships toward Libya after the attacks in Benghazi left four dead including Ambassador Chris Stevens are part of contingency plans to reinforce embassies.
“What is not good is the weak response from the U.S., from the presidential level that is indicating that we’re not going to take this anymore and we can’t apologize to these people and continue to appease them,” he said. “So, I would look if I were president of some direct action if there is any more operations of an attack against the embassy or any embassy or consulates in those countries.
“We also need to send a strong signal that we’re going to stop all foreign aid over there until they get on track and cooperate and quell these riots against the U.S. American interest. They have the responsibility for outside the gate.”
Vallely said he did not know if the protests in Libya and now Yemen are a sign the Arab Spring has withered.
“I don’t know whether it’s failed, it continues to be a cauldron over there,” he said. “I think the other areas to keep constant watch on will be Syria and the fall of Assad. I think then you’re gonna look at Hezbollah in Lebanon as another area that is of concern to all the Middle East.
“But when you look at the chess board you’ve got Turkey and Saudi Arabia supporting this Syrian opposition, you’ve got Russia still supporting Iran and China to some degree so you’ve got a lot of infighting over there, you’ve got two powers Turkey and Iran trying to forge themselves into the future and be the hegemonic power there so this is where we have to be smart and look and see exactly what interest there are of interest to the United States or threats to the United States. That has to come first so we need a good strategy, we need strong leadership, and of course I use the workman proxy forces and that’s how I get my information and it’s not through U.S. intelligence agencies it’s through the proxies over in those different countries.”
Vallely also rejected the idea that the attacks on the embassy were terrorism.
“It’s not terrorism,” he said, “these are direct military assaults that are planned with sophisticated weapons, and missiles, RPGs that have been provided by some of the opposition or government forces there and of course in Libya you’ve got diversification of Islamist factions over there not only fighting each other and they don’t have a government that’s in control.
“So, when you look at that situation, this is not terrorism this is actually military assaults by armed groups and also sponsored in a great part by other countries over there namely on of them is Iran.”
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