June 24, 2008
CBS

Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran

Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex.

CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn't want to wait for a new administration.

"The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize," Oren said. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-a-vis Iran."

Israel's message is simple: If you don't, we will. Israel held a dress rehearsal for a strike earlier this month, but military analysts say Israel can not do it alone. . . .

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Julian Borger, "The Spies Who Pushed for War," Guardian, July 17, 2003

Gordon Prather, "Iran's Sisyphean Task," Antiwar.com, March 1, 2008

[ . . . a four-month computer simulation and gaming exercise carried out last year by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, gives an idea.

It was based on an Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for 90 percent of oil exported from Gulf producers, in response to a U.S. attack on nuclear sites, air fields and air defense targets. The simulation showed the price of oil more than doubling, U.S. gross domestic product depressed for 2-1/2 years, private non-farm employment declining by more than one million jobs, and disposable personal income dropping by more than $260 billion.

In terms of oil and gasoline prices, last year were the good old days. At the time of the exercise, a barrel of oil traded at $65 and a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. averaged $2.80. It's now around $136 and $4.08 respectively and could well reach twice that after an attack.--Bernd Debusmann, "Iran and nuclear consequences," Reuters, June 25, 2008]

Kristin Roberts, "ANALYSIS-US strike may delay, not stop Iran nuclear program," Reuters, June 25, 2008

[If Bush is discussing war on Iran with Ehud Olmert, why is he not discussing it with Congress or the nation?--Patrick J. Buchanan, "Who's Planning Our Next War?," antiwar.com, June 27, 2008]

[Iran has never attacked anyone outside of its borders for 280 years--Seymour M. Hersh, "Congress Agreed to Bush Request to Fund Major Escalation in Secret Operations Against Iran," Democracy Now, June 30, 2008]

[In basing the case for aggressive war against Iran on the weakness of the target state rather than the threat of its military power and aggressiveness, the pro-Israeli analysts are following a familiar pattern in dominant power policymaking toward war on weaker states.--Gareth Porter, "'Weak' Iran ripe to be attacked," Inter Press Service, July 2, 2008]

FALSE FLAG OPERATION?: Amir Oren, "U.S. admiral: Iran strike on Israel 'likely'," Haaretz, July 3, 2008

The United States must not signal that it would be acceptable for Israel to bomb Iranian targets. . . .

President Bush telegraphed this dangerous diplomatic gambit to the media Wednesday when he was asked about the recent spate of reports that military action against Iran, by either Israel or the U.S. and before the end of Bush's term, is under discussion.--Editorial: "No proxy war with Iran," Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2008]

Con Coughlin, "Admiral Mike Mullen warns the West over military strike against Iran," Telegraph, July 4, 2008

Tom Engelhardt, "Why the U.S. Won't Attack Iran," BBC News, July 9, 2008

[New York Times, which owns both the Globe and the Tribune, is intent on once again disseminating the same sort of nonsense that facilitated a "case" for the Iraq invasion.--Peter Casey, "What's NOT in the IAEA Iran Reports ," antiwar.com, July 15, 2008]

[The front men for 362 are liberal Gary Ackerman of New York and conservative Mike Pence of Indiana. But the juice behind them is that of the Israeli lobby AIPAC, which is marching in step with Israel.

Last week, Mossad's chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case for war on Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick Cheney and maybe Bush. Next week, it is the head of Israel's armed forces.

Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into war with Iran.--Patrick J. Buchanan, "A Phony Crisis -- and a Real One," buchanan.org, July 15, 2008

VIDEO: "In a HARDtalk interview Stephen Sackur talks to Robert Baer - former Middle East specialist with the CIA," BBC News, July 21, 2008