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Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel in Iraq
(Mark Gaffney, CounterPunch, July 13, 2004)
There it was, in black and white, the worst news one could imagine staring back at me. I was seeing it, but still not really believing: the latest Sy Hersh report in the New Yorker, "Plan B, Israel Looks to the Kurds" (21 June 2004). . . . I didn't want to be reading this. . . . I was wading through this nightmare of print a la Hersh, about how the Israelis are now in Iraq, where they have no business being (Can this really be happening?), arming and training the Kurds in the north along the border with Iran. For what purpose? Toward what end? Questions that no one seems to be asking these days, certainly not in Washington, where Israel holds court in the US Congress, no less than in the oval office. . . . The fact that Israeli operatives are now in Iraq explodes once and for all the oft-repeated claim that America is an honest peace broker. The whole world will now understand that this was just another of Washington's many deceptions. Bush's uncritical support of Sharon's iron fist shows that even the pretense of impartiality has now evaporated. And, to the shame of every American who cares about justice, candidate Kerry has seconded Bush on Israel without qualification. . . . Bush's Iraq policy has imploded. In fact, there never was a coherent policy, apart from grabbing the oil. It was always just a bunch of lies packaged as patriotic slogans for popular consumption here at home. And the Israelis, who wanted the war (just about any war is OK with them) are now where they've wanted to be for years, that is, on the Iran border, i.e., positioning themselves for the next round when the shinola really hits the fan: the shooting match that will make everything we've seen up until now look like a warm-up. . . . Clearly, Iran figures large in the Israeli calculus. Though it was not reported here in the US media . . . Iran was one of the key issues in the last Israeli election. Sharon and his opponent Benjamin Netanyahu squared-off during the campaign, and the issue was the specter of a nuclearized Shi'ite theocracy. The debate was bitter. Netanyahu took the view that it was too late to prevent Iran from going nuclear, and that Israel must accept this and come to terms. This inflamed Sharon, who accused Netanyahu of treason. Clearly, Sharon believed, and still believes, that Israel must go to any length to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, even if this means going to war (again), which means persuading, pushing, and if necessary dragging the Americans into it. . . . It appears that Iran's policy is to develop nuclear power for energy production while keeping its options open for the future. Such a policy is totally understandable, given Israel's own massive nuclear arsenal, the existence of which is beyond dispute, even if the White House doesn't want to be reminded. Let us remember, Israel's nukes are aimed at Tehran. Put yourself in the Iranians' shoes. It's unreasonable to expect them to forswear nukes forever unless WE in America are also prepared to pressure the Israeli government to sign the NPT and open ALL of Israel's nuclear sites to inspectors. . . . A real leader in the White House would do the sane thing and order the Israelis to leave Iraq, IMMEDIATELY. But we haven't had that kind of leadership since Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the IDF out of Sinai. . . . The Turks are furious with Israel and also with Bush. They have repeatedly warned the US that they will not tolerate an independent Kurdistan on their border. Yet, the outcome of Israel's arming and training the Kurdish militias can only be to feed Kurdish national aspirations. Serious repercussions are likely too in the cases of Syria and Iran, which, like Turkey, have large Kurdish minorities; not to mention both Sunni and Shi'ite factions within Iraq itself, which have warned that Washington is playing with fire. . . . Don't look now, but mighty America is facing defeat in Iraq, and the Israelis are preparing to turn our defeat toward their own ends!

posted by Lorenzo 12:44 PM