Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again!

How They Stole the Bomb From Us

By URI AVNERY

December 10, 2007

It was like an atom bomb falling on Israel.

The earth shook. Our political and military leaders were all in shock. The headlines screamed with rage.

What happened?

A real catastrophe: the American intelligence community, comprising 16 different agencies, reached a unanimous verdict: already in 2003, the Iranians terminated their efforts to produce a nuclear bomb, and they have not resumed them since. Even if they change their mind in the future, they will need at least five years to achieve their aim.SHOULDN'T WE be overjoyed? Shouldn't the masses in Israel be dancing in the streets, as they did on November 29, 1947, sixty years ago? After all, we have been saved!

Until this week, we have been regularly hearing that - any minute now - the Iranians will produce a bomb that threatens our very existence. Nothing less. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new Hitler of the Middle East, who announces every second day that Israel must disappear from the map, was about to fulfill his own prophecy.

A small nuclear bomb, even a teeny-weeny one like the ones dropped on Japan, would be enough to wipe out the whole Zionist enterprise. If it fell on Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square, the economic, cultural and military center of Israel would be vaporized, together with hundreds of thousands of Jews. A second Holocaust.

And lo and behold - no bomb and no any-minute-now. The wicked Ahmadinejad can threaten us as much as he wants - he just has not got the means to harm us. Isn't that a reason for celebration?

So why does this feel like a national disaster?A TWO-BIT psychologist (like me) might say: Jews have become used to anxiety. After hundreds of years of persecution, expulsions, inquisition, pogroms and then the Holocaust, we have little red warning lights in our heads, which come on at the slightest sign of danger. In such a situation, we feel at home. We know what to do.

But when the lights stay off and no danger appears on the horizon, we get the feeling that something suspicious is going on. Something is wrong. Perhaps the lights are out of order. Perhaps it's really a trap!

There is one little consolation in the new situation. While it seems as if the immediate danger of annihilation has disappeared, there is a feeling that we are alone, on our own again.

That is another sign of Jewish uniqueness: We are facing the entire world alone. As in the days of the Holocaust, all the Goyim have forsaken us. Face to face with the Iranian monster which threatens to devour us, we now stand here alone.

All our media are repeating this in unison, like an orchestra which does not need a conductor, because it knows the music by heart.

True, other peoples, too, can derive satisfaction from standing alone. Engraved in my memory is a British poster that was hanging on our walls in Palestine in the dark days after the fall of France to the Nazis, when Britain was left quite alone in the war. Under the grim face of Winston Churchill the slogan proudly proclaimed: "Alright then, Alone!"

But with us this has almost become a national ritual. As we used to sing in the good old days of Golda Meir: "The whole world is against us / That is an old melody / …And everybody who is against us / Let him go to hell…" At the time, one of the army entertainment teams even turned it into a folk dance.

In the last few years, a broad coalition against Iran has come into being. The Iranian bomb has become the heart of an international consensus, led by America, Queen of the World. With the consent of all its five permanent members, the UN Security Council has decreed sanctions against Tehran.

Now, before our very eyes, this coalition is crumbling. President Bush is stammering. Gone is the excuse for an American military attack on Iran, the dream of the Israeli government and the neocons. Gone is even the pretext for more stringent sanctions.

God knows, perhaps even the existing feeble sanctions will be abolished tomorrow.THE FIRST reaction of the Israeli leadership was vigorous and determined: total denial.

The American report is simply wrong, all the media proclaimed. It is based on false information. Our own intelligence community is in possession of much better data, which prove that the bomb is well on its way.

Really? All the intelligence in the hands of the Mossad is automatically transferred to the CIA. It is part of the mass of data on which the American report is based. It must be remembered that the published part of the report constitutes only 3% of the complete document.

So the American intelligence agencies must be deliberately lying.

There is no escaping the conclusion that murky political motives must lie behind their unequivocal findings. Perhaps they want to make up for the false reports which President Bush employed to justify his invasion of Iraq. Then they overestimated, now they underestimate. Perhaps they want to take revenge on Bush and believe that the time is ripe, since he has become a lame duck. Or they are adapting themselves to American public opinion, which cannot stomach another war. And, besides, their chiefs are, of course, all anti-Semites.

Even if the American intelligence operatives innocently believe that Iran has stopped work on the Bomb, it just shows how naive they are. They cannot imagine that the Iranians are fooling them. Who knows better than us how easy it is to hide an atomic bomb and deceive the whole world? After all, we have been at it for years.

But all this does not change the fact: this report pushes American policy in a new direction and changes the entire international constellation.

The war on Iran, which was to be the defining event of 2008, has turned for the time being into a non-event.WHAT ARE the results, as far as Israel is concerned? Why have our leaders been in a state of shock since the publication of the report?

The possibility of an independent Israeli military strike against Iran has vanished. Israel cannot wage war without the unreserved backing of the US. We tried once - the Sinai War of 1956 - and then President Dwight D. Eisenhower kicked our ###. Since then we have taken great care to obtain the blessing of the US before every war.

For the military and intelligence services, the report is an unmitigated disaster for another reason too. The Iranian bomb plays an indispensable part in the army's annual fight for its massive chunk of the budget cake.

For right-wing demagogues, the effect is even more disheartening. Binyamin Netanyahu has built his whole strategy on the Iranian scare, hoping to ride the Bomb right into the Prime Minister's office.

Furthermore, when the Iranian issue cools down, the Palestinian issue warms up. That is especially true in Washington DC. President Bush is in trouble, his fiascos in Afghanistan and Iraq are still dragging on. Any American effort to install a stable government in Iraq, with its Shiite majority, depends on the backing of Shiite Iran. Bush's dream of delivering a lightning stroke against Iran and thus leaving his imprint on history is going up in smoke.

What can he do in order to leave any positive legacy at all? The default alternative is Israeli-Palestinian peace. Perhaps he will now give stronger backing to poor Condoleezza. Perhaps he himself will get more involved. Fact: he is soon going to visit Israel for the first since entering the White House.

True, this effort has not much chance of success, but people in Jerusalem are worried nonetheless. That's just what we need - Bush acting like that anti-Semite, Jimmy Carter, who twisted Begin's arm and forced him to make peace with Egypt!

So what to do? One can instruct Israeli diplomats abroad to redouble their efforts to convince the governments that the situation has not changed, that one must fight against the Iranian bomb, whether it exists or not. But tell that to the Russians and the Chinese! The world's governments are happy to see the end of Bush's pressure - all except that happy couple, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the new White House poodles now Tony Blair has gone.THE NEW situation poses a thorny dilemma for Ehud Olmert.

On the way back from Annapolis, he uttered some amazing statements. If the "two states solution collapses," he declared, "the State of Israel is finished". Nobody in the peace camp has yet dared to go as far as that.

Does he believe what he says, or is it just a new spin? That is the question that is now dominating the discourse in Israel. In other words: is he just trying to win time, or is he really going to work for a peace settlement?

All indications suggest that he is in no position to take any step whatsoever. If he tries to carry out the first phase of the Road Map and dismantle some settlement outposts, he will face not only the determined opposition of the settlers and their supporters, and the silent (but highly effective) opposition of the military, but also obstruction by his government colleagues. Before the first outpost is dismantled, his coalition will break apart.

Olmert has no other coalition handy. Ehud Barak has been trying again and again to outflank him on the right and cannot be relied upon in a crisis. The Labor Party is a chaotic, spineless and unprincipled body. The shrunken Meretz party has a faction of only five Knesset members, four of whom are competing with each other for the party leadership. The ten members of the Arab factions (that's what they are generally called, even though one Hadash Knesset member is a Jew) are outcasts, and no "Zionist" government could be seen to rely openly on their support. And in Olmert's own faction there are several extreme-right members who would obstruct any peace effort.

In such a situation, the natural tendency of a real politician like Olmert is to do nothing, to issue pronouncement left and right (in both senses) and try to gain time.

This week, the government announced plans to build 300 new homes in the odious Har Homa settlement, near Jerusalem. For someone like me, who has spent many days and nights demonstrating against the building of this particular settlement, that is bitter news indeed. It certainly does not indicate a turn for the better.

On the other hand, I have heard an interesting thesis from one of Olmert's inner circle. According to this, knowing that he is going to lose power, Olmert may tell himself: if I must fall, why not enter history as somebody who has sacrificed himself on the altar of a lofty principle, instead of just vanishing as a good-for-nothing political hack?

If he has no other way out, he might choose this solution - particularly as his immediate family is pushing him in this direction.

I would evaluate this possibility as "unlikely" - but stranger things have happened.

In any case, perhaps the peace forces should overcome their understandable reservations and try to influence public opinion in a way that would help Olmert turn in this direction.EITHER WAY, one thing is certain: that son of a ######, Ahmadinejad, has screwed us again.

He has stolen our most precious possession: the Iranian Atomic Threat.

http://counterpunch.org/

[Saddle Bronc 124]

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Shas minister: Americans' attitude to report reminiscent of Auschwitz

Yitzhak Cohen says during cabinet meeting 'US intelligence report was ordered by someone who wants dialogue with Tehran. Minister Eli Yishai: 'We must not play dumb in the face of the report's findings'

Roni Sofer Published: 12.09.07, 14:30 / Israel News

"The manner in which the Americans relate to the intelligence report on Iran is similar to the way in which they viewed those reports they received during the Holocaust on railways transporting hundreds of thousands of Jews to their death at Auschwitz," Minister Yitzhak Cohen of Shas said during a security cabinet meeting Sunday morning on the Iranian nuclear issue.

"It can not be that (US President George W.) Bush is committed to peace as was declared at Annapolis, and then the Americans propagate such an intelligence report which contradicts the information we have proving Iran intends to obtain nuclear weapons," Cohen said. "How can we rely on the Americans if they publish this report that emasculates what the world explicitly knows regarding Iran, and renders impotent the entire struggle against the Iranians?"

Minister Cohen asserted that the report must have been "ordered by someone who wants dialogue with Tehran" and formulated an historical analogy to express just how serious the situation is: "In the middle of the previous century the Americans received intelligence reports from Auschwitz on the packed trains going to the extermination camps. They claimed then that the railways were industrial. Their attitude today to the information coming out of Iran on the Iranians' intention to produce a nuclear bomb reminds one of their attitude during the holocaust."

Cabinet Member Cohen had this to say to his fellow ministers not present in the meeting: "Whoever thinks that the president of Iran is a lover of Zion, with Kosher certification from the Americans, misleads and is mislead. He is not a lover of Zion, but instead an aspiring strangler of Zion. Someone in America fell asleep on his watch, but we must remain awake and aware."

'Pressure on Iran must continue'

Neither Cohen nor the Shas party would confirm nor deny the remarks the minister made in the meeting.

Earlier a senior security source told Ynet that "Iran will do all in its power to proceed on the path (to a nuclear weapon), while trying to confuse the western world." In the meeting, policy makers attempted to formulate the Israeli response to the American National Intelligence Estimate, published last week, which asserted that Iran suspended its activities for acquiring nuclear weapons in 2003.

Cabinet ministers were be briefed on the issue after the meeting but are not yet expected to make any decisions regarding the Israeli response to the report, which will likely prevent the imposition of a third round of economic sanctions on Iran by the UN Security Council.

The uniform stance of most cabinet members is that Israel must neutralize the effects of the American intelligence report.

According to senior ministers, Israel has information proving that Iran did not cease in its efforts to obtain a nuclear bomb, and is only acting in secret. Nevertheless, none of the three top ministers, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, or Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni seeks to create a confrontation with the American administration.

A senior security official who has seen the materials Israel possesses claims that there is enough incriminating information regarding Iran's intentions.

"Even if the world lacks clear evidence, the (Iranian) agenda is clear. We have no doubt that it is (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs who are directing the program. Israel has gathered enough information to obligate the international community to continue with its intensive activity against creating a bomb," he said.

Yishai: Delaying the inevitable

Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai, also of Shas, said before the cabinet meeting: "International pressure on Iran must continue. We know the truth, as does the rest of the world. We must not play dumb in the face of the report's supposed findings. This report is mistaken and is only trying to delay the inevitable. It has only intensified the danger. Don't say this is more of the usual, because we are thus likely to fall asleep and wake up with a nuclear Iran."

Minister Yishai warned that "these attempts at postponement endanger us and the world at large."

According to the minister, this is not the right time to address the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, but that "we must act on all levels to eliminate the Iranian danger."

Over the weekend NATO foreign ministers met and decided to continue applying pressure on Iran after European Union leaders expressed the identical opinion in a meeting last week with American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Foreign Minister Livni, who met with Rice in Brussels during the NATO convention, welcomed the unified front, but instructed Israeli ambassadors and representatives throughout the world to expand the diplomatic struggle to impose additional sanctions on Iran.

The Foreign Ministry, it seems, fears Moscow and Beijing will use the NIE's findings as an excuse to veto any such sanctions on Iran in the Security Council, which is set to begin conducting on the issue Monday.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3480595,00.html

[trueimage 0]

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanakkuh

oh!....and Happy Kwanzaa

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanakkuh

oh!....and Happy Kwanzaa

And Eid Mubarak !

[trueimage 0]

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanakkuh

oh!....and Happy Kwanzaa

And Eid Mubarak !

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Shaalu Shalom Yerushalayim.

[mawilson 2,133]

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanakkuh

oh!....and Happy Kwanzaa

And Eid Mubarak !

And Hosney Mubarak!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Gooooo Israel!

[trueimage 0]

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Eh, I've never even heard of Uri Avnery. I was actually questioning "what's the point of this post?"

[mawilson 2,133]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Eh, I've never even heard of Uri Avnery. I was actually questioning "what's the point of this post?"

You mean other than "Israel - bad, Palestinians - good"?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Eh, I've never even heard of Uri Avnery. I was actually questioning "what's the point of this post?"

You mean other than "Israel - bad, Palestinians - good"?

LMAO. Both these articles are written *BY* Israelis, and you know it.

You should be happy about Iran not having any nukes; why are you still kvetching ?

[almaty 19]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Eh, I've never even heard of Uri Avnery. I was actually questioning "what's the point of this post?"

You mean other than "Israel - bad, Palestinians - good"?

LMAO. Both these articles are written *BY* Israelis, and you know it.

You should be happy about Iran not having any nukes; why are you still kvetching ?

Brother MA, cat sh!t in his house slippers..he will be pissy all week

[mawilson 2,133]

Whaaaaaaaaaat.... you don't like Uri Avnery ? OK here's the howling he's talking about, straight from the horse's mouth:

Eh, I've never even heard of Uri Avnery. I was actually questioning "what's the point of this post?"

You mean other than "Israel - bad, Palestinians - good"?

LMAO. Both these articles are written *BY* Israelis, and you know it.

You should be happy about Iran not having any nukes; why are you still kvetching ?

It puts a serious damper on my world domination plan.