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The change in official Israeli statements was the most pronounced. After a consistent hawkish stance toward Iran, Israel’s president, Shimon Peres told London’s Sunday Times in early September:
"There are two ways [to deal with Iran’s nuclear threat]; a military and a civilian way. I don’t believe in the military option—any kind of military option…an attack can trigger a bigger war."
And then came the bombshell from Ehud Olmert in his valedictory interview appearing in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot on September 29. Olmert argued that Israel had lost its "sense of proportion" in believing it could deal with Iran militarily.
Not Russia Alone
It is a curious twist, but to their great credit our senior military officers, Admiral William Fallon, who quit rather than let himself be on the receiving end of an order to attack Iran, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, fought and continue to fight a rear-guard action against the dreams and plans of "the crazies" in the White House to attack Iran. Fallon famously declared that the U.S. military was not going to "do Iran on my watch" as commander of CENTCOM.
In addition to his outspoken opposition to opening a "third front" in the area of Iraq and Afghanistan, Mullen has done much behind the scenes to talk sense into the Israelis. From the Israeli press we know that Mullen went so far as to warn his Israeli counterparts not to even think about another incident like the one on June 8, 1967, when Israeli jets and torpedo boats deliberately did their utmost to sink the intelligence collector, USS Liberty, off the Sinai coast.
For Mullen a gutsy move. The Israelis know that Mullen knows that that attack was deliberate—not some sort of unfortunate mistake. Mullen could have raised no more neuralgic an issue in taking a shot across any Israeli bow that might be thinking of a provocation of some sort in the Persian Gulf.
Hats off to the new admirals…who outshine predecessor admirals who bowed to pressure from President Lyndon Johnson to portray the Israeli air and torpedo strikes on the USS Liberty, which took the lives of 34 U.S. sailors and wounded more than 170 others, as a mistake in the fog of war—despite unimpeachable evidence it was deliberate.
Hats off, too, to the grass roots movements that succeeded in quashing resolutions in both houses of Congress calling for the equivalent of a blockade of Iran. Several Members actually withdrew their earlier sponsorship of the resolution in the wake of public pressure. Many of them came to realize that facilitating a new war might make them vulnerable to charges of poor judgment—the kind of charges that sabotaged Sen. Hillary Clinton who, ironically, thought she had done the politically smart thing in voting to give the president authority to attack Iraq.
Not Completely Out of the Woods
There remain as many "crazies" among the Israeli leadership as there are here in Washington—crazies who continue to believe that Iran must be attacked while the going is good. And it will never be as good as it is with Bush and Cheney in the White House. If the Randy Scheunemanns of this world are capable of goading the likes of Sakashvili into irresponsible action, they can try to do the same with a wink and a nod to the crazies in Tel Aviv.
The fact that the McCain/Palin campaign seems to be in serious jeopardy provides still more incentive for recklessness. If, as all seem to agree, a terrorist event of some kind might give the edge to McCain, many could argue that the same result could be achieved by a wider war including Iran, requiring senior, seasoned leadership of one who has "worn the uniform."
And there is still more incentive for Bush and Cheney to look with favor on an attack on Iran…very personal incentive. It is a safe bet that if John McCain loses, Bush and Cheney and others will be plagued by various legal actions against them for the war crimes for which they are clearly responsible. Such would also be possible under a President McCain or Palin—but much less likely.
But attacking Iran would be crazy, you say. Not for nothing have many of the folks around Bush and Cheney been referred to as "the crazies" since the early Eighties. Some are still there; and they do things.
In April 2006, one of my Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) colleagues, in a conversation with Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, asked the general if he thought the U.S. or the U.S. cum Israel would attack Iran. Zinni shook his head vigorously, saying, "That would be crazy." Then he stopped and quickly added, but you are dealing with "the crazies."
This article first appeared on Consortiumnews.com
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