The Washington Times reported yesterday: “A former official of a pro-Israel lobbying group indicted last week boasted that his Pentagon source was a “real insider” and promised to “do what I can” to help the source get a job with the National Security Council, court records show.
AIPAC officials illegally disclosed information from classified reports, including data on terrorist activities in Central Asia, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, U.S. strategy options in the Middle East and al Qaeda terrorists. [The indictment] said they also passed the information to reporters, who were encouraged to write stories.”
We are seeing the slow unravelling of a special American relationship and Israeli ambitions to direct and influence US foreign policy. The AIPAC espionage story is really about preparing Israel to attack Iran, as America is strategically unable to do so at the present time.
Doug Ireland writes a fascinating insight into the scandal. He paints a picture of a largely silent and complicit media, all too willing to believe doomsday predictions about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, when in fact the evidence for such estimates is largely absent. Both Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush have made comments in the last months that make a strike against Iran all the more likely. Read Ireland’s full report.
Mike Whitney offers a more apocalyptic reading of the situation, warning that the use of nuclear weapons by the Bush or Sharon administrations is not unlikely and then “World War 3 will be underway.” Sounds far-fetched? Perhaps. But he writes:
“If Iran retaliates against Israel or the US in Iraq, then both nations will proceed with a plan that is already in place to destroy all of Iran’s biological, chemical and conventional weapons sites. In fact, this is the ultimate US strategy anyway; not the elimination of the “imaginary” nuclear weapons facilities. Both the US and Israel want to “de-fang” the Mullah-regime so that they can control critical resources and eliminate the possibility of a regional rival in the future.”
What would be Australia’s position on such an attack? Would John Howard support American or Israeli military action? If so, would Australian troops be involved?