Israel, US Planned War Before Crisis: Report

[Hashim_507]

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers



CAIRO — Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hizbullah and shared it with the Bush administration officials well before the resistance group took prisoner two Israeli soldiers, a veteran award-winning American investigative reporter has revealed.


Israel began with [Vice President Dick] Cheney. It wanted to be sure that it had his support and the support of his office and the Middle East desk of the National Security Council," a US government consultant with close ties to Israel told Seymour Hersh.

Citing current and former Israeli and US intelligence and diplomatic officials, Hersh said several Israeli officials visited Washington earlier this summer to set the stage for a military operation against Hizbullah.

They wanted to "get a green light for the bombing operation and to find out how much the United States would bear," said the consultant.

He added that after Cheney "persuading Bush was never a problem, and Condi [Condoleezza Rice] was on board."

Hersh said the White House did not respond to a detailed list of questions on whether it really helped plan the Israeli military operation.

The Bush administration has staunchly opposed an immediate ceasefire in the war unleashed by Israel on July 12, saying that it should be put off until "the conditions are conducive."

The US made no secret that it shipped laser-guided bombs and cluster ammunition to Tel Aviv at an Israeli request.

Several current and former officials involved in the Middle East told Hersh that Israel viewed the soldiers’ "kidnapping" as the opportune moment to begin its planned military campaign against Hizbullah.

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech half through the hostilities that he came to knew that Israel had plans to wage war on the resistance group anyway.

He said the Israeli army was forced to advance the original deadline after Hizbullah fighters took prisoner two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border operation.

Demo for Iran
The US government consultant with close ties to Israel said the Bush administration thought of an Israeli bombing of Hizbulalh as a demo for Iran.

"The Israelis told us it would be a cheap war with many benefits," he told Hersh.

"Why oppose it? We’ll be able to hunt down and bomb missiles, tunnels, and bunkers from the air. It would be a demo for Iran."

A Middle East expert with knowledge of the current thinking of both the Israeli and the US governments said the administration saw it could hit two birds with one stone through Israel's attack on Hizbullah.

"Bush was going after Iran, as part of the Axis of Evil, and its nuclear sites, and he was interested in going after Hizbullah as part of his interest in democratization, with Lebanon as one of the crown jewels of Middle East democracy.

"The White House was more focused on stripping Hizbullah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hizbullah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel," he told Hersh.

Days before the start of the war, Bush described the relationship between Hizbullah, Iran and Syria as one of the "root causes of instability" in the region.

The military option against Iran has always been on Bush's agenda.

A former senior intelligence official said that the big question for Bush was how to hit a series of hard targets in Iran successfully.

"Who is the closest ally of the US Air Force in its planning? It’s not Congo—it’s Israel. Everybody knows that Iranian engineers have been advising Hizbullah on tunnels and underground gun emplacements," he said.

"And so the Air Force went to the Israelis with some new tactics and said to them, ‘Let’s concentrate on the bombing and share what we have on Iran and what you have on Lebanon.’"

The former senior intelligence official added that the discussions reached the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

A Pentagon consultant said the White House "has been agitating for some time" to find a reason for a pre-emptive blow against Hizbullah "to take on later on Iran.

"It was our intent to have Hizbullah diminished, and now we have someone else doing it."

Think Twice

But Richard Armitage, who served as Deputy Secretary of State in Bush’s first term, advises the administration to think twice in view of the heavy losses suffered by Israel in just one month.

"If the most dominant military force in the region—the Israel Defense Forces—can’t pacify a country like Lebanon, with a population of four million, you should think carefully about taking that template to Iran, with strategic depth and a population of seventy million," he told Hersh.

"The only thing that the bombing has achieved so far is to unite the population against the Israelis."

A total of 110 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the war in fierce battle with well-trained and armed Hizbullah fighters.

Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed on Saturday, August 12, in the highest single-day death toll.

Over the past four weeks, Hizbullah proved a foe to be reckoned with, inflicting heavy losses on the armed-to-the-teeth Israeli army.

It shot down at least four Apache helicopters and destroyed one warship, a fast-speed patrol in addition to tens of Israel's pride Merkava tanks.

Role Model

The Middle East expert and the government consultant said that the Israelis repeatedly pointed to the war in Kosovo as a "role model" of what Israel would try to achieve.

In other words, Israel believed that by targeting Lebanon’s infrastructure, including highways, fuel depots, and even the runways at the main Beirut airport, it could persuade Lebanon’s large Christian and Sunni populations to turn against Shiite Hizbullah.

The NATO forces commanded by US Army General Wesley Clark bombed and strafed not only military targets but tunnels, bridges, and roads, in Kosovo and elsewhere in Serbia, for seventy-eight days before forcing Serbian forces to withdraw from Kosovo.

"Israel studied the Kosovo war as its role model," the government consultant said.

"The Israelis told Condi Rice, ‘You did it in about seventy days, but we need half of that—thirty-five days.'"

But the strategy proved a fiasco with Narallah emerging as a folk hero in the Middle East with his photos widely distributed across the Arab capitals as are Hizbullah flags.

Even those who continue to support Israel’s war against Hizbullah agree that it is failing to achieve one of its main goals—to rally the Lebanese against Hizbullah.

"Strategic bombing has been a failed military concept for ninety years, and yet air forces all over the world keep on doing it," John Arquilla, a defense analyst at the Naval Postgraduate School, told Hersh.

This rise in the anti-Israeli feelings is accompanied by a reinforcement of the popularity of the Lebanese resistance movement and Nasrallah.

[Ninth_Scribe]

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

As I said before, the strategy seems to be, to lure these different armies into different battles to force their hand, spend their weapons cashes up and decrease their troop strength before they have an opportunity to assemble a united front.

If I wanted to break the Middle Eastern powers... that's how I would do it ;)

Ninth Scribe

[Hashim_507]

As I said before, the strategy seems to be, to lure these different armies into different battles to force their hand, spend their weapons cashes up and decrease their troop strength before they have an opportunity to assemble a united front.

If I wanted to break the Middle Eastern powers... that's how I would do it ;)

Ninth Scribe

Like the zionist?

[wilberhum]

Of course

Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah.

Israel knew it would come; it was just a matter of time. One of the prime objectives of Hezbollah is the destruction of Israel. War was inevitable. So is the next one.

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[Ninth_Scribe]

Like the zionist?

Like all military leaders, it comes down to three things:

Knowing your own weakness

Knowing your enemy's weakness

Developing a strategy that addresses them both.

War has nothing to do with race or religion. If you want to be a good warrior, you have to get your head above all that. In Iraq, the attacks that were the most successful were those that were coordinated. If you wanted to disrupt someone who had that advantage, you have to find a way to get them to stop coordinating (eg: pit them against each other). If that doesn't work, you have to draw them into different battles. Bottom line, you can't just rush the enemy with drawn swords - you have to have a strategic plan before the actual battle - not to mention serveral contingencies to cover your butts.

The Taliban lost their initial battle because they don't believe in education. That was their bad. The Shia and Sunnis are losing on both fronts because they dare to defy Mohammed (PBUH) and will not work together... and Allah will not grant victory to those who defy his Prophet.

But then again, what does a woman know?

Ninth Scribe

[brainiac]

Most countries with large armies have plans 'in the can' for battle with every country in the world. There are groups of guys whos' job it is to devise strategies to fight under almost every possible scenario. That way, if something does happen, there is at least a rudimentary plan that can be used right away. Given the state of affairs in the M.E. Israel would have been stupid not to have a plan in place to combat Hezbollah.

[Geronimo]

a US government consultant with close ties to Israel told Seymour Hersh.

This right here blows the whole arguement out of the water. Everybody that has any association with the administration hate Mr. Hersh. This man has lied on so many occasions it's ridiculous. This is the man that said the US was gonna invade Iran last May :heated: .

A little background on Hersh:

Many of his most shocking "scoops" in recent years have come at public speaking events, rather than in print, though Hersh caused a small scandal regarding his credibility when he admitted in an interview with a New York Magazine writer Chris Suellentrop, "Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people...I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say."[13]

Specifically, one of Hersh's dramatic allegations made during a speaking engagement in July 2004, during the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal, was later amended by Hersh. He alleged that American troops sexually assaulted young boys: "basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children, in cases that have been recorded, the boys were sodomized, with the cameras rolling, and the worst above all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking. That your government has. They’re in total terror it’s going to come out.”[14] In a subsequent interview with New York Magazine, Hersh admitted, "I actually didn’t quite say what I wanted to say correctly...it wasn’t that inaccurate, but it was misstated. The next thing I know, it was all over the blogs. And I just realized then, the power of—and so you have to try and be more careful."[15] In his book, Chain of Command, he wrote that one of the witness statements he had read described the rape of a boy by a foreign contract interpreter at Abu Ghraib, during which a woman took pictures.

[Zulkiflim]

Salaam,

Man may plan but Allah is the best of Planners

and on the day of reckoning,your works on earth will be judge ,the good and the bad,the truth and the lies.

Inshallah,to the hellfire you go should you be found wanting.
And for the muslim who fight and resisit and maintian the way of the Prophet,Jannah and even better to be with the Creator.

[Hashim_507]

Inshallah,to the hellfire you go should you be found wanting.

To whom your saying to?

[Ninth_Scribe]

Most countries with large armies have plans 'in the can' for battle with every country in the world. There are groups of guys whos' job it is to devise strategies to fight under almost every possible scenario. That way, if something does happen, there is at least a rudimentary plan that can be used right away. Given the state of affairs in the M.E. Israel would have been stupid not to have a plan in place to combat Hezbollah.

Correct. And when I discovered the Arabic rendering of Ezra's name (Uzayr) it led me to the location of his burial shrine, a town named after him. It also led me to a Strategic Plan for War with Iraq, published in 1998, of which that town was named.

Ninth Scribe

[DaNgErOuS MiNdS]

How did it lead you to a Strategic Plan for War with Iraq??I dont understand what you mean :/

[Arwa]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4792961.stm

[Keltoi]

I think the U.S. administration has been mulling over ways to weaken Iran's influence in the region. However, I think they are more concerned with Iranian influence in Iraq moreso than Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah were bound to entangle themselves in conflict sooner or later, and it shouldn't be a surprise to know that Israel and the U.S. have talked about strategies in dealing with such an event.

[Woodrow]

Of course Israel knew it would come; it was just a matter of time. One of the prime objectives of Hezbollah is the destruction of Israel. War was inevitable. So is the next one.

I might be able to argue with your wording. But sadly, I can find no arguement against this part of your statement.

War was inevitable. So is the next one

[Keltoi]

Sad state of affairs. Surely there is some way to end this cycle of violence without calling for the destruction of one or the other. Call me naive, but I don't think any war is "inevitable". There has to be someone out there with the leadership capability, the credibility, and the courage to make the Holy Land a place of worship for all peoples of the Book. Perhaps it is a fantasy, but I hope I live to see it happen before I die.

[Ninth_Scribe]

How did it lead you to a Strategic Plan for War with Iraq??I dont understand what you mean :/

It materialized when I searched the data bases for more info on this location, Uzayr. I kept the report because it was very informative... very detailed list of what was where, etc.

Ninth Scribe