EARL NASH
ISRAEL: On the road to the Big Mistake
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"They are
gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran...US bombers and long range
missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours."
[Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London.]
With the US Congress
strengthening the sanctions against Iran, an American fleet (with an Israeli
vessel) passed through the Suez Canal on the way to the Persian Gulf, where its
task, according to Pentagon sources, is:
to implement the sanctions against Iran and supervise the ships going to and from Iran.
The Pentagon has
been rapidly expanding its offensive capacity in the African island of Diego
Garcia, claimed by Britain, which had expelled the population so that the US
could build the massive base it uses for attacking the Middle East and Central
Asia.
The Navy sent a
submarine tender to the island to service nuclear-powered guided-missile
submarines with Tomahawk missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads. Each
submarine is reported to have the striking power of a typical carrier battle
group.
A US Navy cargo
manifest obtained by the Sunday Herald (Glasgow), shows the substantial
military equipment Obama has dispatched includes 387 "bunker busters"
used for blasting hardened underground structures.
Planning for these
"massive ordnance penetrators," the most powerful bombs in the
arsenal short of nuclear weapons, was initiated in the Bush administration. On
taking office, Obama immediately accelerated the plans, and they are to be
deployed several years ahead of schedule, aiming specifically at Iran.
"They are
gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran," according "US
bombers and long range missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in
Iran in a few hours," he said. "The firepower of US forces has
quadrupled since 2003," [Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for
International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London]
British and
Israeli media report that Saudi Arabia is providing a corridor for Israeli
bombing of Iran (denied by Saudi Arabia).
Admiral Michael
Mullen, the Number Two man in the Pentagon, visited Israel to meet Israel
Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and senior Israeli military staff
along with intelligence and planning units, continuing the annual strategic
dialogue between Israel and the U.S. in Tel Aviv. The meeting focused "on
the preparation by both Israel and the U.S. for the possibility of a nuclear
capable Iran," according to Haaretz, which reports further that Mullen
emphasized that "I always try to see challenges from Israeli
perspective." Mullen and Ashkenazi are in regular contact on a secure
line.
The increasing threats of
military action against Iran are in violation of the UN Charter, and in
specific violation of Security Council resolution 1887 of September 2009 which
reaffirmed the call to all states to resolve disputes related to nuclear issues
peacefully, in accordance with the Charter, which bans the use or threat of
force.
Some analysts
describe the Iranian threat in apocalyptic terms. Amitai Etzioni warns that
"The U.S. will have to confront Iran or give up the Middle East," no
less. If Iran's nuclear program proceeds, he asserts, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and
other states will "move toward" the new Iranian
"superpower"; in less fevered rhetoric, a regional alliance might
take shape independent of the US. In the US army journal Military Review,
Etzioni urges a US attack that targets not only Iran's nuclear facilities but
also its non-nuclear military assets, including infrastructure - meaning, the
civilian society. "This kind of military action is akin to sanctions -
causing 'pain' in order to change behaviour, albeit by much more powerful
means."
Establishing a
Nuclear Free War Zone (NFWZ) in the Middle East was proposed (again) at the NPT
conference at United Nations headquarters in early May 2010.
Egypt, as chair of
the 118 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement, proposed that the conference back
a plan calling for the start of negotiations in 2011 on a Middle East NWFZ, as
had been agreed by the West, including the US, at the 1995 review conference on
the NPT.
Washington still formally agrees, but insists that Israel be exempted - and has given no hint of allowing such provisions to apply to itself. The time is not yet ripe for creating the zone, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated at the NPT conference, while Washington insisted that no proposal can be accepted that calls for Israel's nuclear program to be placed under the auspices of the IAEA or that calls on signers of the NPT, specifically Washington, to release information about "Israeli nuclear facilities and activities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel."
Military analysts
estimate that Israel has 200-300 deployable nuclear weapons; Iran has none.
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