By Jamal Kanj
24 August 2012
Jamal Kanj argues that “leaked” Israeli information on plans to attack Iran are intended to drag the USA into a new Middle East quagmire through committing aggression against Iran on the eve of the American presidential election.
Western and Israeli media are lush with purported leaks on the joint efforts of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, to enlist the support of a reluctant military top brass to attack Iran.
All this is hogwash. Israel has no intention to move solo. The leaked information published in the US media is a distraction from Israel’s desire to drag Washington into a new Middle Eastern quagmire.
24 August 2012
Jamal Kanj argues that “leaked” Israeli information on plans to attack Iran are intended to drag the USA into a new Middle East quagmire through committing aggression against Iran on the eve of the American presidential election.
Western and Israeli media are lush with purported leaks on the joint efforts of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, to enlist the support of a reluctant military top brass to attack Iran.
All this is hogwash. Israel has no intention to move solo. The leaked information published in the US media is a distraction from Israel’s desire to drag Washington into a new Middle Eastern quagmire.
|
Former Israeli colonel and ex-secret service agent Victor Ostrovsky details in his book, By Way of Deception, how the Israeli foreign intelligence agency Mossad uses sayanim – Jewish helpers in the host country – to seed false stories in the US media to influence official and public opinion.
Last week, Richard Silverstein, an anti-war blogger based in Seattle, published a supposedly secret internal briefing depicting Israeli military plans to strike Iran.
He alleges an insider confided that he wouldn't "normally leak this sort of document" but "these are not normal times. I'm afraid Bibi [Netanyahu] and [Ehud] Barak are dead serious."
According to Silverstein, the document was released because "neither the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] leaker – my source – nor virtually any senior military or intelligence officer wants this war".
Dissecting the "leaked" information, it appears to be a 10-year-old page copied from George Bush's "shock and awe" war plan on Iraq: a "clean" technological cyber-attack paralysing communication centres and power grids followed by barrage of missiles and airstrikes to destroy targets on the ground.
The coordinated Israeli leaks were more likely intended to pre-empt the re-election of Barak Obama rather than a genuine pre-emptive effort against Iran, especially since his challenger, Mitt Romney, has supported a unilateral Israeli military action against Iran.
It was unlikely, though, that the appearance of the “leaked” document at the same time as the publication of articles in major Israeli newspapers discussing similar war plans was sheer coincidence.
On 10 August the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published two articles by distinguished writers Nahum Barnea and Simon Shiffer who concluded that an Israeli strike on Iran would likely take place before the US elections in November.
He alleges an insider confided that he wouldn't "normally leak this sort of document" but "these are not normal times. I'm afraid Bibi [Netanyahu] and [Ehud] Barak are dead serious."
According to Silverstein, the document was released because "neither the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] leaker – my source – nor virtually any senior military or intelligence officer wants this war".
Dissecting the "leaked" information, it appears to be a 10-year-old page copied from George Bush's "shock and awe" war plan on Iraq: a "clean" technological cyber-attack paralysing communication centres and power grids followed by barrage of missiles and airstrikes to destroy targets on the ground.
The coordinated Israeli leaks were more likely intended to pre-empt the re-election of Barak Obama rather than a genuine pre-emptive effort against Iran, especially since his challenger, Mitt Romney, has supported a unilateral Israeli military action against Iran.
It was unlikely, though, that the appearance of the “leaked” document at the same time as the publication of articles in major Israeli newspapers discussing similar war plans was sheer coincidence.
On 10 August the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published two articles by distinguished writers Nahum Barnea and Simon Shiffer who concluded that an Israeli strike on Iran would likely take place before the US elections in November.
|
Later in the week, the Israeli daily Ma'ariv cited insider information on a deadline of 25 September, the eve of Yom Kippur and the opening of the UN General Assembly, "for Obama to clearly state that the US will take military action".
Israel is demanding that, at his UN speech, Obama set a clear deadline to attack Iran. The paper suggests that, without a US war commitment, "Israel will press on with its plans to strike at the Iranian nuclear programme".
Netanyahu, who was educated in, and has worked and lived in the US, understands the vulnerability of a first-term president.
He knows that in a tight election year, it is an optimum opportunity for the Israeli lobby to maximize US concessions before a second term, when the president is relatively less susceptible to electoral politics.
Closer to polling day and as Obama's re-election becomes certain, a credible scenario would be for Israel to strike Iran and thereby pre-empt his new term at the White House.
An Iranian response would leave Obama with little option but to outdo his opponents by joining Israel's corner in the US Congress, dragging America into another Israeli proxy war.
Netanyahu, who was educated in, and has worked and lived in the US, understands the vulnerability of a first-term president.
He knows that in a tight election year, it is an optimum opportunity for the Israeli lobby to maximize US concessions before a second term, when the president is relatively less susceptible to electoral politics.
Closer to polling day and as Obama's re-election becomes certain, a credible scenario would be for Israel to strike Iran and thereby pre-empt his new term at the White House.
An Iranian response would leave Obama with little option but to outdo his opponents by joining Israel's corner in the US Congress, dragging America into another Israeli proxy war.
A version of this article was first published by the Gulf Daily News. The version here is published by permission of Jamal Kanj.'
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/jkanj20120824
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten