Global Research Editorial Note
An attack on Iran using its nuclear energy program as a pretext would be illegal and criminal. While Iran has no intentions to develop nuclear weapons in any way, shape, or form, as confirmed by the IAEA and the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the Israeli government is raising in very explicit terms the possibility of air strikes against Iran.
Israel could trigger a regional war against Iran and its allies in the Middle East. Tel Aviv’s war plans are being coordinated with the U.S., the E.U., Turkey, and NATO.
This is the scenario envisaged by Vice President Dick Cheney at the outset of Bush’s second term. In early 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney dropped a bombshell. He hinted, in no uncertain terms, that Iran was “right at the top of the list” of the rogue enemies of America, and that Israel would, so to speak, “be doing the bombing for us”, without US military involvement and without us putting pressure on them “to do it”:
“One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked… Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards,” (quoted from an MSNBC Interview Jan 2005)
Israel is a Rottweiler on a leash: The US wants to “set Israel loose” to attack Iran. Commenting on the Vice President’s assertion, former National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in an January 2005 interview on PBS, confirmed with some apprehension, yes: Cheney wants [former] Prime Ariel Sharon to act on America’s behalf and “do it” for us.
If the war were to be initiated by Israel, the U.S. and NATO will then come to Israel’s “rescue” in the case of a military retaliation by Iran.
Global Research, 19 December 2007
The Israel Air Force has been conducting an increasing number of training missions outside of Israel, over the Mediterranean, in the United States, Canada, Italy and other countries.
According to a senior IAF officer who spoke to Maariv/NRG this week, one of the reasons for this training policy is the Iranian threat: “The IAF’s fighter jets need to train for missions against very distant targets, like Iran, and they therefore require long operational ranges,” the officer explained. In addition, he said, the IAF fighters use long range radar guided missiles, and therefore need to practice over larger areas, such as the sea.
There are other considerations for conducting training abroad, as well, he said: Israel’s skies are cluttered with civilian traffic; there are experiments by security industries which hamper flight, and environmental factors, among others.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert scolded cabinet ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday for making statements about a US intelligence report released last week that said Iran had ceased its nuclear weapons development in 2003.
“I ask the ministers to stop making statements about Iran and the American Intelligence Estimate,” he said. “I wish to remind you that the cabinet discussed the matter and stated the Israeli position on the Iranian issue.”
Olmert’s remarks were seen as a specific rebuke in response to Public Security Minister and former General Security Service (Shin Bet) chief Avi Dichter’s blunt criticism of the Americans’ intelligence assessment of the Iranian threat, which he called a “misconception.”
Speaking at an event Saturday in Holon, Dichter said, “Something went wrong in the ‘software’ the Americans used to analyze the severity of the threat of a nuclear Iran. Let us hope the United States knows how to fix that.”
The Public Security Minister said part of the blame fell on Israel as well. “We did not succeed in convincing the US about how real and close the Iranian nuclear threat is. The size of the region that is threatened by Iran is [determined by] the range of its missiles,” he said. “That includes all of the countries of Europe and North Africa.”
Dichter added, “A mistaken conception by the world’s leading power is not just an internal American issue. It has to alarm Israel and many other countries.”
Olmert made it clear at Sunday’s meeting that no further statements on the Iranian threat, the American understanding of that threat and its scope should be made.
“There is no place for private announcements by every single minister on this sensitive and complex subject,” said the Prime Minister. “These statements do not help us manage the struggle against the Iranian nuclear project and do not improve our relationship with the US. This matter needs to be handled with great care. I request ministers not to make statements on the subject if it is not within their ministry’s purview.”
