First, a look back:
A trip back in time: How Israeli Spies pushed for war on Iraq
"The OSP was an open and largely unfiltered conduit to the White House not only for the Iraqi opposition. It also forged close ties to a parallel, ad hoc intelligence operation inside Ariel Sharon's office in Israel specifically to bypass Mossad and provide the Bush administration with more alarmist reports on Saddam's Iraq than Mossad was prepared to authorise.
"None of the Israelis who came were cleared into the Pentagon through normal channels," said one source familiar with the visits. Instead, they were waved in on Mr Feith's authority without having to fill in the usual forms.
The exchange of information continued a long-standing relationship Mr Feith and other Washington neo-conservatives had with Israel's Likud party.
In 1996, he and Richard Perle - now an influential Pentagon figure - served as advisers to the then Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu. In a policy paper they wrote, entitled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, the two advisers said that Saddam would have to be destroyed, and Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iran would have to be overthrown or destabilised, for Israel to be truly safe.
According to former Bush officials, all defence and intelligence sources, senior administration figures created a shadow agency of Pentagon analysts staffed mainly by ideological amateurs to compete with the CIA and its military counterpart, the Defence Intelligence Agency.
The agency, called the Office of Special Plans (OSP), was set up by the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to second-guess CIA information and operated under the patronage of hardline conservatives in the top rungs of the administration, the Pentagon and at the White House, including Vice-President Dick Cheney.
The ideologically driven network functioned like a shadow government, much of it off the official payroll and beyond congressional oversight. But it proved powerful enough to prevail in a struggle with the State Department and the CIA by establishing a justification for war.
Posted in light of the recent revelations in the just released NIE on Iran.
With the release of the NIE intelligence report on Iran, the neoCONs and Zionists are howling like dogs scalded by hot water, realizing that their pack of lies are being exposed.
This is far from over. The NIE report let a little sunlight into the dark corners inhabited by the scurrying pests known as neoCONs and Zionists, but it also increases the chance of a "false-flag" attack upon some American city or a MOSSAD attack on a U.S. naval vessel stationed in the Arabian Gulf.
These demented beings thought nothing of attacking us on 9/11 to help further their agenda and they'll not be stopped by a NIE report that goes against their sick and twisted vision of the future."
Yes, BEWARE the ISRAELI FALSE-FLAG OPERATION or ATTACK!
Because:
Empire Strikes Back -- israel loses again
"This is getting exciting.
Last week, israel was caught off guard by a proposed Security Council resolution that would have forced them to make good on promises they made at Annapolis - something they had never planned on doing.
This week, israelis were caught off guard by a US intelligence report that basically harpooned four years of their hard work trying to make a case for attacking Iran.
It's 0-for-2 -- israel is on a roll and I for one like where this is going.
Like the proposed SC resolution, this report was released BEFORE israelis had a chance to look at it - which is why they called it "a blow below the belt."
This is a sure sign that israel is losing its control over the American Empire.
However, the struggle is nowhere near over. Just as they tactlessly used their lackey deputy ambassador to the UN to revoke the proposed SC resolution, they're trying to use their lackey US president to undo the damage of this report.
But, in the process, they are revealing themselves and their war-crazed intentions in all its bloodthirsty glory.
They're exposing themselves more and more by the minute - israelis will be their own undoing.
Israel said Tuesday that it remained convinced that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons and that it had probably resumed the weapons program the Americans said was stopped in the fall of 2003.The defense minister, Ehud Barak, rejected the American assessment of “moderate confidence” that Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program by mid-2007 and that the end to the program “represents a halt to Iran’s entire nuclear weapons program.” He suggested that Israel would not rest in its efforts to stop Iran’s activities.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that the right steps are taken against the Iranian regime,” Mr. Barak told Israeli Army radio. “As is well known, words don’t stop missiles.”
He added: “It is apparently true that in 2003 Iran stopped pursuing its military nuclear program for a certain period of time. But in our estimation, since then it is apparently continuing with its program.”
In other words, whereas the Americans say Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program while continuing to enrich uranium as rapidly as it can, Israel contends that Iran has resumed its nuclear weapons program with the clear aim of building a nuclear bomb.
Assessments may differ, Mr. Barak said, “but we cannot allow ourselves to rest just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the Earth, even if it is from our greatest friend.”
Hey - all the power to you, Ey-hud!
Go get em!
But, not on our dime, or our lives.
Mr. Barak also said that what appeared to be the source for the American assessment on the weapons program was no longer functioning. “We are talking about a specific track connected with their weapons building program, to which the American connection, and maybe that of others, was severed,” Mr. Barak said cryptically.
It was only on Tuesday, Israeli officials said, that Israel received and began to assess a copy of the classified American report, which is believed to run some 130 pages.
At which point they flipped out and summoned their lackey in chief for an emergency meeting in Tel-Aviv...
President Bush will visit the Middle East in early January, the White House said Tuesday. It declined to provide details, but Israeli newspapers and broadcast media said Mr. Bush would be making the first visit of his presidency to Israel in January.
...for his spanking.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said diplomacy remained the correct path for now to deter Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. But he was explicit about the Israeli conclusion that Iran’s intention was military, not civilian.
“We believe that the purpose of the Iranian nuclear program is to achieve nuclear weapons,” he said. “There is no other logical explanation for the investment the Iranians have made in their nuclear program.”
Mr. Olmert, who was briefed on the new assessment in Washington last week, tried to play down the gap in judgments with the United States. “According to this report, and to the American position, it is vital to continue our efforts, with our American friends, to prevent Iran from obtaining nonconventional weapons,” he said.
The American assessment said Iran probably halted the weapons program “primarily in response to international pressure,” a judgment Israel embraced as a call for further diplomatic action.
But Israeli experts on Iran said that the American report would make any action against Iran less likely, whether diplomatic or military, and that it would probably kill or dilute American-led efforts to pass another sanctions resolution through the United Nations Security Council.
Efraim Kam, a former Israeli military intelligence official who is now at Tel Aviv University, said the report “makes it very hard for anyone in the United States or Israel who was thinking of going for a military option.”
Mr. Kam said the American assessment surprised him. “The report says its assessment is correct for now — but it could change anytime,” he said. “Maybe the Iranians assessed that it was better for them to halt the military program and concentrate on enriching uranium,” which takes a long time, “and then go back to it.”
Efraim Halevy, a former director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, said Iran was pursing a nuclear weapon. The American report, he said, “provides no reason to say the threat is gone — it’s not.” He added, “They can stop on the edge of the project to weaponize and decide to proceed at any time.”
As for the role or weight of Israeli intelligence in the American assessments, both in 2005 and now, Mr. Halevy said no country, and especially not the United States, would rely on a foreign assessment without making its own. “No matter how close allies are, you don’t as a rule rely solely on the information of others.”
Too bad our government didn't follow that advice before they swallowed israeli intelligence whole and invaded Iraq."
Israel furious at US findings on Iran
"On Tuesday morning, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper called the U.S. findings 'a blow below the belt.' An analysis in the competing Haaretz newspaper suggested that Israel might come to be viewed as a 'panic-stricken rabbit' and said that the U.S. intelligence estimate established 'a new, dramatic reality: The military option, American or Israeli, is off the table, indefinitely.'"
________
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Dec 4, 1:29 PM ET
JERUSALEM — Israeli officials, who've been warning that Iran would soon pose a nuclear threat to the world, reacted angrily Tuesday to a new U.S. intelligence finding that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and to date hasn't resumed trying to produce nuclear weapons.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak directly challenged the new assessment in an interview with Israel's Army Radio, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the new finding wouldn't deter Israel or the United States from pressing its campaign to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.
"It seems Iran in 2003 halted for a certain period of time its military nuclear program, but as far as we know, it has probably since revived it," Barak said.
"Even after this report, the American stance will still focus on preventing Iran from attaining nuclear capability," Olmert said. "We will expend every effort along with our friends in the U.S. to prevent the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons."
Probably no country felt more blindsided than Israel by the announcement Monday that 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, in a stunning reassessment, had concluded with "high confidence" that Iran had halted its nuclear program in 2003 and with "moderate confidence" that it hadn't restarted that program as of mid-2007.
For years, Israel has been at the forefront of international efforts to isolate Iran , with Israeli intelligence estimates warning that Iran was on the brink of a nuclear "point of no return," an ominous assessment that often fueled calls for a military strike.
Israeli officials also have sought to isolate Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , citing his calls for Israel's destruction and his skepticism that the Holocaust took place.
The U.S. intelligence finding said that evidence "suggests" that Iran isn't as determined as U.S. officials thought to develop a nuclear weapon and that a diplomatic approach that included economic pressure and some nod to Iranian goals for regional influence might persuade Iran to continue to suspend weapons development.
On Tuesday morning, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper called the U.S. findings "a blow below the belt." An analysis in the competing Haaretz newspaper suggested that Israel might come to be viewed as a "panic-stricken rabbit" and said that the U.S. intelligence estimate established "a new, dramatic reality: The military option, American or Israeli, is off the table, indefinitely."
"This is definitely a blow to attempts to stop Iran from becoming nuclear because now everybody will be relaxed and those that were reluctant to go ahead with harsher sanctions will now have a good excuse," said Efraim Inbar , the director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University .
The estimate created an awkward situation for Israeli leaders, who mostly tried to sidestep direct criticism of the Bush administration.
Olmert sought to focus on the report's finding that Iran had been deterred in 2003 from pursuing its nuclear weapons program by international pressure. That, said Olmert, made continued sanctions essential.
Barak was tougher and promised that the report wouldn't influence Israeli policy.
"We cannot allow ourselves to rest just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the earth, even if it is from our greatest friend," he said.
Israeli officials also highlighted where the U.S. and Israeli assessments agree.
They noted that while the latest U.S. assessment said that the earliest Iran was likely to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb was 2010, Israeli assessments weren't dramatically different, finding that Iran could develop the workings for a nuclear bomb by 2009.
Gerald Steinberg , the chairman of the political science department at Bar-Ilan University , suggested that the findings might increase the chances that Israel will attack Iran because they reduce the chances that the United States will act.
"I think it may introduce a lot of stress in the Israeli-American relationship," he said.
But Emily Landau , the director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies , said it would be very difficult for Israel to launch an attack without explicit support from the United States .
"If Israel were to carry out a military action, it would have to be in coordination with the United States , so if the United States is moving away from that option, it would have implications for Israel as well," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20071204/wl_mcclatchy/2773393
How arrogant of the Israelis!
To say it was a below-the-belt shot when it is the truth!
And after ALL AMERICA has done for THEM!
What arrogant ungratefuls!
So now the Israelis think we are their enemies?
Then the whole world is against them now.
"Make no mistake. The Americans are enemies"
"The only factor that matters is appeasement: appeasing our enemies on both sides of the line - the Americans and the Arabs.Make no mistake. The Americans are enemies. Under the leadership of Condoleezza Rice and Bush (in that order), the United States has been transformed into one of Israel's most dangerous foes. The policies being forced down our throats, including abandonment of virtually all of Judea and Samaria, as well as Jerusalem, is only the beginning. The Golan Heights are not far behind."
Source: Israel National News
Sure didn't take long for our "bestest" buddies in the ME, Israel, to turn on its #1 benefactor and provider of money, weapons and political backing.
All because they didn't like the Iran NIE that came out and said Iran was NOT making nukes.
The hard-core Zionists are crying in their Mogan David wine, even thinking the unthinkable: They might have to give back what they stole from Syria--the Golan Heights-- in Israel's 1967 War of Aggression.
Zionist anger could turn into a rage that won't be quelled by oodles and boodles of more US tax money to the Khazars. They might decide to lash out at the U.S. and attack us again, like they did in 1967's attack on the USS Liberty and the 2001 attack on New York and Washington.
Or they might get pissed enough to invoke the "Samson" option on the world and bring down Armageddon on us all.
Heck, Israel, you know what always cheers you up? Sending out some of your ZOF (Zionist Occupation Force) Goon Squads to shoot some Palestinian kids in the head.
Or another fav: Invading Lebanon and bombing them back to the Stone Age...er, uh, guess after your murderous Summer of 2006 bombing campaign against Lebanon, another one would just make the rubble bounce...Hell, that's no fun for those crazy Zionist party monsters.
Hey!!! How about cutting off the power to Gaza hospitals? That's always good for some hearty laughs at Likudnik gatherings. Nooooo?
Hmmmm.
Deny the food and medicine that Gaza needs to survive from entering the Strip? That should put a smile on your Zionist mug!!!!!"
And here is a whole gaggle of Israeli atrocities that will remain silent on the pages of my War Dailies, I'm sure:
Red Cross: 'Israeli army intentionally harms civil...
"Red Cross training Gaza fighters in international humanitarian law
According to the spokesperson of the Salah al-Din brigades, Abu Mojahed, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza, which has been attending the ICRC's humanitarian training, "This is a part of the ICRC's mission, which we feel we should respect and deal with." "We always avoid areas where there is a civilian population so we can guarantee less harm is inflicted. However, the Israeli army intentionally harms civilians"
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9139.shtml
Israel invites bids for new east Jerusalem settlements
"The Israel Land Administration has published a tender for the construction of 307 housing units in Har Homa," an official in the housing ministry told AFP, referring to a neighbourhood in east Jerusalem. At the Annapolis conference last week, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to implement the 2003 roadmap plan, the first phase of which calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and for Palestinians to improve security.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071204/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyisraelsettler_071204163202
Spokesman: Israel has right to build in E Jerusalem
"Israel will strictly abide by obligations under the Roadmap that applies to West Bank," Mark Regev told Xinhua, adding that "Jerusalem is not the West Bank but Israeli capital." Regev admitted that Jerusalem is one of the core issues under negotiations with the Palestinian. But he claimed that, unlike the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, it's not part of the requirements in the roadmap peace plan.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/05/content_7200420.htm
Palestinian Political detainee hospitalized following attack
A female Palestinian detainee claimed she was attacked and beaten by Israeli gaurds at the Hasaron Israeli detention camp, she told her lawyer on Tuesday.Her lawyer, Shreen Nasser, told how her client Amneh Mona was kept in solitary confinement for over six months.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51854
Troops installed barbed wire in an attempt to prevent the protesters from reaching the highway. However, the villagers insisted and managed to reach the road. Troops fired several rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the protesters, however no injuries were reported. For seven years in a row, Israel prohibits Palestinians from using this 200-mile road which is built on the land of Palestinian villages, and allows only (Illegal) Jewish settlers to use it.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/12/03/three-nonviolent-protests-in-the-west-bank/
B`Tselem slams Israeli Supreme Courts delay in decision to allow reduction of fuel supplies to Gaza
B'Tselem asserted there should be questions asked regarding the courts unwillingness to intervene in what amounts to collective punishment. They also pointed out that the court has postponed the decision regarding Israels plan to reduce the fuel supplies to Gaza for two weeks as it was supposed to be given on the 2nd of December
http://www.imemc.org/article/51852
Israeli air strikes kill three Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli air strikes killed three Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip city of Rafah in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The strikes come following Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Baraks' authorization of military action against Gaza. Twelve members of Hamas have been killed during Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past week
http://www.imemc.org/article/51850
Detainees Media Center: "Israel is avoiding its commitments to the peace process"
The Center also stated that there are dozens of children, women, elderly and sick detainees who should be freed without any preconditions, and that Israel insists on obstructing any progress in the peace process by not fulfilling its obligations.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51847
Israel's First Madam In Lebanon
Shulamit accepted to work with the Mossad, money probably being one of her motives. Before she started her work as a spy, she was sent into training in Ha-Kirya in Tel Aviv, where she learned to fulfill her duties as a prostitute for the Mossad. After that, she was sent to London to learn the English language and good manners, and how to "fish in troubled waters" after men of interest for her employer.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/06/14/israels-first-madam-in-lebanon/
Hospitals to disclose Palestinian patients' profiles to Defense Ministry
Israeli hospitals are no longer authorized to schedule medical appointments for Palestinians without first providing the security services with the patients' names for vetting, Health Ministry officials confirmed to Haaretz Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930825.html
Israeli forces kidnap one Palestinian in Tubas and attack local shepherds
Security sources reported that several Israeli military vehicles invaded the city as well as several other neighborhoods in the surrounding area. Troops besieged a civilian's home before kidnapping a Palestinian youth. The boy, Sameh Sawafta, was taken to an unknown detention center. In a separate incident, Israeli forces attacked a group of shepherds in the al Aquapa village in Tubas.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51853
Adding insult to Gaza's injuries
At a time when the international community is meeting to try to resolve one of the longest standing conflicts in the world, around 20 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel - in less than one week. These Israeli atrocities only fuel feelings of distrust between the two sides and further contribute to the isolation of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10172199.html
Israeli Arab leaders: A Palestinian state is not the solution for us
Dr. Amal Jamal, head of the Political Science department at Tel Aviv University, said Tuesday that the "Palestinians have their Palestine. We have our Palestine." He emphasized the Palestinian right to self-identification also encompasses the Palestinian minority inside Israel, and demanded Israeli Arabs be give the chance to realize this right.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/931127.html
Budget shortfalls threatening assistance to Palestinian refugees, warns UN official
"Lack of resources means that we are unable to employ enough teachers, health care and social workers to keep pace with a beneficiary population that is growing in both size and needs," said Filippo Grandi, Deputy Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which aids 4.5 million people.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MUMA-79K4W7?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Egypt relaxes its Gaza border for haj
The movement of Gaza pilgrims through Egypt suggested a softening stance from Cairo toward Hamas. Egypt has had little contact with the group since it seized power. It was also a blow to the rival Fatah-led government in the West Bank, which promised to ship pilgrims out through Israel. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both traditional supporters of Fatah, were both involved in Monday's passage.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1195546792479&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Secretary-General appoints Robert H. Serry of Netherlands United Nations Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Process
Robert H. Serry of the Netherlands was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and his Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. In this capacity, Mr. Serry will be the Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Quartet.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-79KPZK?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Bring them home, gradually
Since the separation fence (Apartheid Wall) was built, thousands of settlers who live east of it find themselves in an unclear situation. Having to wait for a political settlement to determine the permanent border is nerve-racking for those who wish to lead a normal life. Polls show that some 20,000 settlers at least would at this point like to vacate communities east of the fence, if they receive enough compensation to buy a new home.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930809.html
Troubled waters adds tension in West Bank
Amid peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians over how to divide land, there is another conflict bubbling just beneath the surface; this one is over water, a precious resource in the Middle East. The sleepy Palestinian village of Qattaneh just north-west of Jerusalem and with approximately 10,000 inhabitants, many of them refugees, has had its piped water reduced to only one day per week, according to a recent Humanitarian Monitor report released by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/12/03/troubled_waters_adds_tension_in_west_bank/5494/
Pray for success, because Israel will pay the price of Annapolis failure
There is already a growing international movement calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel - even now as Israel is engaged in a peace process. It is a small movement lead by the same coalitions that are against globalization and against the war in Iraq . Even though this global movement is presently small and perhaps insignificant, it is being advanced by a tight net of small organizations of activists, many of whom were behind the successful campaign against apartheid. Failure of the Annapolis process is the fuel that these people and organizations are waiting for.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546794663&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Bush to make 1st official visit to Israel in January
During his visit, Bush is expected to focus on promoting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the framework of agreements reached at last week's Mideast peace conference, held in Annapolis, Maryland.. This visit will be Bush's first visit to Israel since he took office seven years ago. Bush visited Israel in 1998 when he was governor of Texas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/931129.html"
Wow, that's a heavyweight post.
And the MSM certainly would never focus on this for any length of time:
How Israel Got the Nuclear Bomb
