Arming of Hezbollah Reveals U.S. and Israeli Blind Spots

The Treasonous NY Times ^ | July 19, 2006 | MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER

[neverdem]

Weapons

WASHINGTON, July 18 — The power and sophistication of the missile and rocket arsenal that Hezbollah has used in recent days has caught the United States and Israel off guard, and officials in both countries are just now learning the extent to which the militant group has succeeded in getting weapons from Iran and Syria.

While the Bush administration has stated that cracking down on weapons proliferation is one of its top priorities, the arming of Hezbollah shows the blind spots of American and other Western intelligence services in assessing the threat, officials from across those governments said.

American and Israeli officials said the successful attack last Friday on an Israeli naval vessel was the strongest evidence to date of direct support by Iran to Hezbollah. The attack was carried out with a sophisticated antiship cruise missile, the C-802, an Iranian-made variant of the Chinese Silkworm, an American intelligence official said.

At the same time, American and Israeli officials cautioned that they had found no evidence that Iranian operatives working in Lebanon launched the antiship missile themselves.

But neither Jerusalem nor Washington had any idea that Hezbollah had such a missile in its arsenal, the officials said, adding that the Israeli ship had not even activated its missile defense system because intelligence assessments had not identified a threat from such a radar-guided cruise missile.

They said they had also been surprised by the advances that Hezbollah had made in improving what had been crude rockets — for example, attaching cluster bombs as warheads, or filling an explosive shell with ball bearings that have devastating effect.

The Bush administration has long sought to focus attention on Iranian missile proliferation, and regularly discusses with journalists intelligence evidence of those activities. But American officials in Washington made clear this week that they...

[neverdem]

Try removing ?pagewanted=print from the URL to get the main webpage with some interesting graphics. I don't know how to post it which has data on the rockets.

[Enterprise]

"the arming of Hezbollah shows the blind spots of American and other Western intelligence services in assessing the threat,"

It was probably Valerie Plame's job.

[msnimje]

Actually, it reveals the DANGER the UN puts the world in. The US and Israel's hands are tied at every turn by the UN.

[silentknight]

As always a day late and a dollar short. I am fairly sure that Iran already has some sort of nuclear weapon as well. 10 years off? YEAH RIGHT

[oolatec]

Hey, at least they told us Iran and Syria are responsible for arming Hezbullah... ;)

[silentknight]

The U.N. WANTS a peace treaty so the terrorists can get back on their feet.

Everytime I the news talking about peace I want to SCREAM. THERE CAN BE NO PEACE until Israel destroys the terrorists. Period.

[msnimje]

Exactly right.

When someone has both the motive, inclination and ability to kill you then you had better kill them first.

[JSteff]

"the Israeli ship had not even activated its missile defense system"

That was stupid. Let's have a defense system that we don't turn on.

[NormsRevenge]

Here's an ap graphics re: missiles and ranges

Graphic shows Hezbollahs larger missiles and their ranges. (AP Graphic)

[NorCalRepub]

.....I can see the CIA not knowing this..but the Moussad?.. They are the best in the biz.....this one slipping by them must have been a very covert deal....

[msnimje]

I can see the CIA not knowing this..but the Moussad?..

How do you know the Moussad did not know?

[hipaatwo]

I'm sure the Mossad knew, they're not the CIA! They are the best around.

[NorCalRepub]

...well only because the last 3 paragraphs in the article said Washington and Jerusalem were surprised that they were this advanced.....and had come a long way with their technology.......

[Enterprise]

Really. I hope we can all sleep better now knowing how accurate our intelligence services have been.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

As usual, NYT = Monday morning quarterback.

[NorCalRepub]

...I know they are....I said that in my post...but the article stated that Washington and Jerusalem were surprised.....am I missing something?

[msnimje]

I don't believe it just because it is written by the mainstream press.
In fact, I usually DON'T believe what is in the mainstream press.

[Magnum44]

This article reveals the NYT's Blind Spot. What an ill informed and condescending comment, to assume that US, and Israeli intelligence was not aware of the extent of military hardware being stockpiled. If the Israeli Air Force were not aware, then they would not have the extensive target list they are currently prosecuting. While we obviously don't catch everything, we are aware of far more than anyone is going to tell the Slimes about.

[veryconernedamerican]

Well Israel definately was in the dark as far as the
anti-ship missiles were concerned, that would not have happened otherwise. They were unaware.

[NorCalRepub]

...haha....neither do I....but you have to start somewhere. Seems like a couple of the experts at FOX or CNN etc were equally puzzled...either way....if they knew, we wouldn't know about it....maybe they are just saying they didn't to keep low on the other secrets they hold in their back pocket