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>===== Original Message From Vicki Andrada <michigan_vicki@yahoo.com> =====
Oh of course Israel is telling the Americans how they should conduct a war
against Iraq!!
Vicki
to visit my home page go to:
http://www.nosanctions.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Sherri Muzher
To: freepalestine@egroups.com ; GNAA@yahoogroups.com ; rancor13@hotmail.com
Cc: omare@globalone.com.jo
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 11:50 PM
Subject: [GNAA] Israel to America: If you strike Saddam, hit W. Iraq first
Wednesday, January 02, 2002
Israel asks America to strike western Iraq first, if
it decides to fight Saddam
By Amir Oren
Ha'aretz
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer paid a visit to
the secretive Ness Ziona Biological Institute
yesterday.
The Home Front commander, Maj. Gen. Yosef Mishlav,
said recently that the plan to transfer the Home Front
to the Ministry for Public Security has been frozen,
so defending the population from nuclear, chemical,
and biological warfare is still in the hands of the
defense minister.
Ben-Eliezer was accompanied to the institute by an
unusually small entourage, to keep a low profile.
Presumably, the concern about a possible attack by
Iraq, with unconventional payloads delivered by either
missiles or planes, was one of the main subjects in
the briefing given the minister by his hosts.
According to security sources participating in Israeli
preparations for a possible American move on Iraq, any
decision by President George W. Bush about when to
attack Iraq depends on three main elements: building
the case against Saddam, including charges and
evidence; identifying an alternative ruler to replace
Saddam; and building up the forces that will execute
the planned attack.
The defense establishment here believes that the Bush
administration has given up trying to find an Iraqi
version of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, so
Washington is busy studying intelligence profiles of
top Iraqi army commanders who could take control in
Baghdad concurrent with or immediately after the start
of an American campaign.
In a U.S. attack, Saddam won't hurry to attack Israel,
say defense sources, because, among other reasons, he
won't want to expose the weaponry that he managed to
hide - and deny he had - over the past decade.
The sources note that unlike the spring of 1990, when
Saddam was already threatening to "burn half of
Israel" (before he invaded Kuwait) if attacked, no
such threats toward Israel have been coming out of
Baghdad.
However, should Saddam conclude that the Americans are
about to topple him, he'll try to attack Israel with a
barrage of missiles or airplanes. Topping Israel's
worries are a possible ground-to-ground missile
attack, with chemical or biological payloads.
The defense establishment reckons that much lower on
the list of possibilities would be Iraq sending pilots
on suicide missions, whether to drop non-conventional
payloads, or to crash their planes. The loyalty of
Iraqi pilots to Saddam, and their readiness to die for
him, while his regime is crumbling, is not at all the
same as that of Japanese kamikaze pilots, who were
ready to die for their emperor at the end of World War
II.
In contacts between Israeli and American defense
officials over the past few weeks, the Pentagon's
representatives were asked to plan their operations in
Iraq in such a way as to minimize the Iraqi ability to
move missile launchers into western Iraq, from which
missiles can reach Israel. The Americans were told
that Israel expects them to conduct operations,
including on the ground, in western Iraq from the
start of a campaign, and not to wait until Iraq starts
launching missile attacks on Israel, as happened in
1991. Israeli officials say they believe the Pentagon
will accede to this request.
The Pentagon meanwhile is very interested in
technologies, weapons systems, and military doctrines
developed in Israel over the past few years. In
meetings in Washington with top defense officials and
representatives of the Israeli defense establishment,
led by Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron,
and including the head of weapons development and
technology infrastructure Maj. Gen. Dr. Yitzhak
Ben-Israel, videos were shown demonstrating examples
of Israel's policy of "pinpoint targeting" in the
territories. The emphasis was on combat helicopter
attacks that caused no collateral damage to anything
other than the target, even if many civilians were in
the area.
American officers, from both the air force and special
operations, visited Israel to learn about "pinpoint
targeting" from IDF special operations commanders in
the territories. Among other things, the Americans
wanted to know about long-distance assassinations,
along the lines of the operation - to kill Saddam
Hussein - that foreign reports said was being
rehearsed at the time of the Tze'elim 2 accident. The
Americans were offered Israeli assistance in many
areas, including inoculations against anthrax.
Along with the focus on Iraq, the defense
establishment is keeping a close eye on developments
in Iran. According to the latest Military Intelligence
estimate, an event at Tarbit Madras University in
Tehran a week ago, may be significant. Attended by
government officials, including an adviser to Iranian
President Muhamed Hatami, parliamentarians, and
academic experts, the event was devoted to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most of the speakers
opposed the conservative policy of the Iranian
spiritual leader Ali Hamani and demanded moderation of
the government line against Israel, a line that is
more extreme than the Palestinians.
Military Intelligence's estimate appears to strengthen
the position that Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy publicly
stated last month when he said that there is hope for
moderation in the Iranian regime.
=====
You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who
shall command the skylark not to sing? ~Khalil Gibran
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