[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] Israel is preparing to attack Iran, with Bush's okay (Doug Ireland; The Sunday Times)

Wed Mar 16 23:40:32 PST 2005

>
>
>DIRELAND: Doug Ireland's web log
>http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/03/iran_israel_pre.html
>
>March 13, 2005
>IRAN: ISRAEL PREPARES ITS ATTACK
>
>
>This morning's Times of London carries the first
>confirmation from a major news source that--just
>as the Bush administration's neo-cons had
>expected and plotted for--Israel is secretly
>preparing an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
>You will recall that, on February 18, DIRELAND
>brought you reports
><http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html>
>[appended below] from the European press of a
>Bush speech -- virtually ignored here in the U.S.
>-- in which The Twit gave his green light to an
>Israeli attack on Iran and said he'd support it.
>
>That attack is no longer theoretical but in an
>advanced stage of planning. "The inner cabinet of
>Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave
>'initial authorisation' for an attack at a
>private meeting last month on his ranch in the
>Negev desert," the London Times reports today.
>
>"Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iranís
>Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to
>practise destroying it. Their tactics include
>raids by Israelís elite Shaldag (Kingfisher)
>commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69
>Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate
>underground facilities. The plans have been
>discussed with American officials who are said to
>have indicated provisionally that they would not
>stand in Israelís way if all international
>efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects
>failed...."
>
>This news comes just one day after the Financial
>Times reported
><http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c1dfe414-9257-11d9-bca5-00000e2511c8.html>
>-- to the indifference of the U.S. media -- that
>Iran was "offering to halt development of most of
>its nuclear fuel cycle facilities while retaining
>the ability to enrich small amounts of uranium."
>This back-channel compromise offer from the
>Iranians went unreported in the Stateside press.
>The Iranians have known an attack on their
>nuke-development centers was in the works ever
>since last Fall, when the story about the AIPAC
>spy ring at the Pentagon broke: the principle
>task of the spies was securing --for Israel --
>classified U.S. intelligence on Iran in
>furtherance of plans for an attack. Which is why
>neo-cons in the administration -- who have an
>ideological commitment to a military strike
>against Iran -- lent themselves to this espionage
>and provided the documents to Israel.
>
>The imminent threat of Israeli bombing is
>obviously what is driving the compromise offer
>reported by the F.T., which could jump-start a
>new round of diplomatic negotiations to avoid war
>-- but the respected financial daily also
>reported that the U.S. was unlikely to accept the
>offer of a near-total climbdown from Iran.
>Saturday's declarations from Tehran refusing to
>accept a U.S. offer to drop its opposition to
>Iranian membership in the WTO and other economic
>incentives in return for total elimination of
>Iran's nuke progrm are clearly for public
>consumption within Iran and an attempt to put a
>brave face on things even as the Islamic Republic
>makes confidential backchannel offers of
>compromise.
>
>The drive toward war-by-proxy with Iran is thus
>in high gear, with disastrous consequences not
>only for the Iranian people, but for the region
>and the world: a proliferating nuclear arms race
>motored by countries Washington doesn't like, who
>see a nuclear shield as the only protection
>against Bush's announced first-strike doctrine;
>and a new mega-motivation for those whom the
>Islamist mullahs are trying to recruit to respond
>to the call for more terrorist jihad. Not to
>mention the distinct possibility of radioactive
>clouds wafting contaminated desert sands
>throughout the region, empoisoning food,
>livestock, and innocent human beings, even among
>U.S. allies. If The Twit and his new Secretary of
>State -- a rather literal-minded woman not known
>in diplomatic circles as the brightest bulb in
>the chandelier either -- reject the chance to
>avoid war embodied in the compromise Iranian
>offer, the Times of London's report today
>strongly suggests the bombs may begin falling
>soon....
>
>UPDATE at 10:00 AM -- On ABC's This Week this
>morning, George Stephanopolous did briefly ask
>Condi Rice about the London Sunday Times
>report--but Little Georgie blundered hugely,
>asking her if the U.S. had "authorized" an
>Israeli strike at Iran's nuke capacity. This
>allowed Condi to quickly bat away the question by
>saying, "Nobody's authorizing anything here."
>(Israel's government needs only its own
>"authorization" for such an attack.) The entire
>exchange with Condi on Iran lasted less than a
>minute. What Stephanopolous should have asked was
>whether the U.S. supported such an attack or
>thought it was a good idea, as well as asking her
>about Bush's little-noticed February 18 comments
>in the affirmative cited above. But Georgie is
>still really a tyro in the news biz, and
>infinitely less tough as a questioner than, say
>Tim Russert. So, after Condi wiggled away from
>the question with a non-denial denial of
>Washington's support for an Israeli attack on
>Iran, Stephanopolous went on to devote 15 minutes
>to an interview with Jose Canseco on steroid use
>by athletes--such are the priorities of interest
>at ABC's ratings-chasing news division....But
>Russert, too, had Condi on this morning--and
>never asked her about Iran at al.
>
>Posted by Doug Ireland at 07:36 AM | Permalink
>
>
>*  *  *  *  *
>
>
>Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear
>plant
>Uzi Mahnaimi
>
>The Sunday Times (UK)
>March 13, 2005
>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html
>
>
>ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined
>air and ground attack on targets in Iran if
>diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear
>programme.
>
>The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli
>prime minister, gave ìinitial authorisationî for
>an attack at a private meeting last month on his
>ranch in the Negev desert.
>
>Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iranís
>Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to
>practise destroying it. Their tactics include
>raids by Israelís elite Shaldag (Kingfisher)
>commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69
>Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate
>underground facilities.
>
>The plans have been discussed with American
>officials who are said to have indicated
>provisionally that they would not stand in
>Israelís way if all international efforts to halt
>Iranian nuclear projects failed.
>
>Tehran claims that its programme is designed for
>peaceful purposes but Israeli and American
>intelligence officials ó who have met to share
>information in recent weeks ó are convinced that
>it is intended to produce nuclear weapons.
>
>The Israeli government responded cautiously
>yesterday to an announcement by Condoleezza Rice,
>the US secretary of state, that America would
>support Britain, France and Germany in offering
>economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its
>programme.
>
>In return, the European countries promised to
>back Washington in referring Iran to the United
>Nations security council if the latest round of
>talks fails to secure agreement.
>
>Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, said
>he believed that diplomacy was the only way to
>deal with the issue. But he warned: ìThe idea
>that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear
>bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the
>whole world.î
>
>Dick Cheney, the American vice-president,
>emphasised on Friday that Iran would face
>ìstronger actionî if it failed to respond. But
>yesterday Iran rejected the initiative, which
>provides for entry to the World Trade
>Organisation and a supply of spare parts for
>airliners if it co-operates.
>
>ìNo pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give
>up its legitimate right to use nuclear technology
>for peaceful purposes,î said an Iranian
>spokesman.
>
>US officials warned last week that a military
>strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli
>or American forces had not been ruled out should
>the issue become deadlocked at the United
>Nations.
>
>Additional reporting: Tony Allen-Mills,
>Washington
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand