TEL AVIV — Israel might be preparing to attack Iran, with or without U.S. assistance:
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-à-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.
As you may recall, Israel allegedly destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor earlier this year. And neither the Israeli media nor the U.S. media had received any leaks prior to the attack. Whenever Israel wants to do something, no one finds out in advance. So, this is obviously a leak. But why?
Israel and the United States want to show the Iranian government that they are not scared of a possible conflict. They want Iran to be scared. After all, look at the speed and ferocity with which the United States demolished the Iraqi military in 2003. The European governments recently froze Iranian assets in European banks, and the United Nations might approve tougher sanctions. Essentially, the West and Israel want Iran to blink first, and they are absolutely serious. Why else would Syria, an Iranian ally, suddenly decide to pursue peace with Israel? They see the seriousness of the situation, and they don’t want to be on the losing side of a war between Iran and the West. As I wrote in a prior post, Syria’s leaders are pragmatic realists above all else.
Outside of American neoconservatives in the United States and Israeli far-right Likudniks, no one actually wants a war. But they need to show that they will do whatever it takes to make Iran stop supporting Hamas, arming Hizbollah, and threatening Israel with destruction. If Iran does not blink, then its nuclear facilities — and possibly more — will be bombed.
