Posted on 08/15/2006 2:44:59 PM PDT by WmShirerAdmirer
Israel's bombing of Lebanon over the past month was not merely a response to the unprovoked attack by Hizbullah on July 12 but a planned operation coordinated ahead of time with the Bush administration - this, at least, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in an article published in this week's The New Yorker magazine.
Hersh wrote that Israeli officials "visited Washington separately to get a green light for the bombing," and that the IAF bombing offensive could "serve as a prelude to a potential American preemptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev expressed outrage at the allegations.
"The whole idea that the Israeli campaign in Lebanon was a premeditated military operation that we chose to initiate in coordination with others is simply not true," he said. "We were attacked. We had no interest in the escalation of violence in the North. The escalation was forced upon us by a premeditated, deliberate and unprovoked act of aggression of Hizbullah.
"They succeeded in having tactical surprise. They killed some of our soldiers and took two as hostages. Anyone who looks at those events can clearly witness that Israel was responding to an act of aggression, the timing of which was chosen by Hizbullah."
The American Embassy did not respond to requests for a comment.
Hersh, quoting many unnamed US diplomatic and intelligence sources, elaborated his assertion that the US had prior knowledge of Israel's plans for Hizbullah.
An unnamed "Middle East expert" said the State Department "had several reasons for supporting the Israeli bombing campaign... It was seen as a way to strengthen the Lebanese government so that it could assert its authority over the south of the country."
According to the piece, the White House believed that if a "military option against Iran's nuclear facilities" became necessary, Hizbullah's arsenal must be destroyed as it could be used "in a potential retaliation at Israel."
The article began with a statement given by President George Bush at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg on July 16: "It's now become clear why we don't have peace in the Middle East."
Bush went on to describe the relationship between Hizbullah and its supporters in Iran and Syria as one of the "root causes of instability" in the region.
The article also claimed that since Hizbullah is supported by Syria and Iran, the need to strengthen the Lebanese government is part of larger US hopes for democratizing the region. Another long-term US goal, wrote Hersh, is to set up a Sunni coalition with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, which will pressure Shi'ite Iran.
Vali Nasr, an expert on Shi'ites and Iran, is quoted as saying, "Every negative American move against Hizbullah was seen by Iran as part of a larger campaign against it. And now Hizbullah is testing Iran's new weapons. Iran sees the Bush administration as trying to marginalize its regional role, so it fomented trouble."
Regev remarked that everyone "knew of Iran's involvement with Hizbullah." But, that information did not factor into Israel's response to Hizbullah's provocation.
Shabtai Shavit, national security adviser to the Knesset and former head of the Mossad, is quoted as saying, "We do what we think is best for us, and if it happens to meet America's requirements, that's just part of a relationship between two friends. It was just a matter of time."
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1714570.htm (ABC, Australia)
US gave green light to Lebanon attack: Seymour Hersh
The World Today - Monday, 14 August , 2006 12:26:00 Reporter: Eleanor Hall
ELEANOR HALL: A month into the war and one of the top investigative journalists in the United States has published dramatic allegations about the genesis of the conflict.
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh has alleged that Israel had planned a military strategy to take on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and shared that strategy with the Bush administration well before the kidnappings last month that triggered the current war.
Seymour Hersh, who in the past exposed the Abu Ghraib scandal and Vietnam's My Lai massacre, also wrote that the United States gave the green light to the attack on Hezbollah because of its own plans for Iran.
I spoke to Seymour Hersh in Washington a short time ago.
SEYMOUR HERSH: Once Israel indicated it was ready to go, it was getting ready, it had had it with Hezbollah and they, you know, it was a target of opportunity. They thought they could do it with air, the Israeli Commander in Chief, General Halutz is an airman and believes in strategic bombing.
And the White House, the more they heard about it, the more they began these discussions. Eventually, what I say in the article is that Richard Cheney the vice-President, and everything always seems to come to him and his immediate office, the neo-conservatives if you will. I mean, what a good idea. Let the Israelis do it. It's a no-brainer.
One, we're having a tremendous fight inside our own military with our own plans for bombing Iran and the White House is very eager for the Air Force to come up with a very tough plan to take out the Iranians.
And the other services in America - the Army, the Navy, the marine corp, are all have been saying - for a year, I've been writing about it - are you nuts? We can't do it. If you start bombing what'll happen is you'll need troops and we don't have the troops.
So here you have a chance to show that bombing can work against a tough, dug in target. Hezbollah is underground, its missiles are underground. It's been digging for years. Nobody digs like the Iranians. The Persians have been digging holes since the 11th century.
So you go in and the Israeli Air Force blast Hezbollah, knocks it out of the park, that's a plus, you get rid of a terrorist.
Two, if you're going to go to Iran, one of the deterrents is Hezbollah has missiles. We can't attack, the United States cannot attack Iran as long as Hezbollah can attack Haifa and Tel Aviv with missiles. We have to get rid of those. So that gets rid of those.
And three, we show everybody, all those sceptics in the military, look, bombing can work.
That was the unassailable thought of the White House.
ELEANOR HALL: And what are your sources telling you about when the Israelis came to the White House with this plan? How long has the planning been going on?
SEYMOUR HERSH: We don't know. I mean, the best I could get is Spring. Actually the Air Force came first. The American Air Force went to the Israelis first because the American Air Force has been, as I say, it's been getting its head handed to it inside the Pentagon every time they stick their head up and say, let's bomb.
And so here's the Israelis who are great navigators and great pilots, great bombers. And so the American Air Force began to share notes. And then the idea percolated. And again, let me stress, Israel doesn't need America to go after Hezbollah.
But there were also... another element was, after the Israelis invaded Gaza, if you remember an Israeli soldier was captured June 28th, a man named Shalit by, we think, Hamas.
And then Israelis punched into Gaza very hard. We occupied part of it, shot it up. At that point there was a lot of signals traffic that the Israeli intelligence community picked up in which Hamas, which is interestingly a Sunni organisation, and the Shi'ite Hezbollah were talking to each other, and one of the things being said is, maybe it's time to warm up the north.
And so at this point, this is June/July, at this point it was decided that next time Hezbollah does something... and what you've had in the last five, six years between Israel and Hezbollah since the Israelis were driven out of southern Lebanon by Hezbollah in 2000, you've had nothing but back and forth cross-border stuff. You could be sure that in a month or two somebody was going to do something.
ELEANOR HALL: If this is a dry run for an attack on Iran, what lessons will the White House have drawn? Will it now be putting off a military confrontation?
SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, you know, normally, you'd think that there is a learning curve, but not in this White House. My own belief is that some of the people talking to me are also very nervous about the fact that they believe this White House is incapable of learning what it doesn't want to learn.
Right now intelligence is being cooked just the way it was cooked before the war in Iraq. There's intelligence about Iran and its ties to Hezbollah, which are certainly deep, but not as deep as the White House would believe from the intelligence it's getting. A case is being dealt in the intelligence community against Iran that may not be accurate.
ELEANOR HALL: What is in it for the United States to give a green light for the bombardment of infrastructure in one of the countries that it points to as a shining example of democracy in the region?
SEYMOUR HERSH: (Inaudible) actually thought that one of the things you want to do is you want to increase the power of the civil government, the Lebanese Government, which is pro-American right now, now that we've gotten rid of the Syrians - they've been kicked out under UN resolution 1559.
So one of the thoughts was, let's increase the power of the central government, let's decrease the power of Hezbollah which has been operating as a sort of separate armed entity, although it's certainly part of the Government right now. Hezbollah has members of Parliament, Cabinet members are Hezbollah, they provide a lot of services, incredible services - hospitals, schools - to their people.
But still, the American idea, one aspect of it, the bombing would be good because it would diminish Hezbollah and make the Government stronger. Yeah, duh! Another bad call.
ELEANOR HALL: Now, you don't name a number of your key sources...
SEYMOUR HERSH: I name none of them!
ELEANOR HALL: ...How reliable are they?
SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, look, I've been around, as you know, I'm long of tooth, I've been doing this stuff from My Lai to Abu Ghraib and writing stories for a long time. You know when you take a bite of the Israelis, you know you're going to get a lot of heat.
ELEANOR HALL: But you're absolutely certain?
SEYMOUR HERSH: (Laughing) I don't think I'd put 40 years on the line if I wasn't certain. No, I'm certain and I know from where the offices where it comes from and I know where the people work. I just can't name them.
ELEANOR HALL: That's Seymour Hersh the investigative journalist from The New Yorker speaking to me from New York a short time ago.
So Seymour Hersch once won a P{ulitzer, now everything he writes is construed as Gospel?/
He is a lying sack of doo reporter and Pulitzers are a dime a dozen even the New York Times got one for a stinking lie.
Hersh? Traitor. Arrest, duly-try, convict, sentence and execute him. He's seditious, treasonous garbage.
:)
Fixed that typo...
A_R
Syria is the key; it's the conduit for the supplies; it's the safe haven for terrorists that kill Iraqis, Americans, and Israelis; it's an oppressor of its own people; it fights behind the scenes to keep Lebanon oppressed and under its yoke. When will we deal with Syria? We've allowed it to shelter Baathists, to funnel terrorists into Iraq, and to supply those who shoot missiles and rockets at Israeli civilians. The war on terror must be extended to Syria with the destruction of the Assad dictatorship. It is absolutely essential that we destroy Assad's military infrastructure and his abiltiy to foment war through proxies. Why have we not done this?
*Snicker!* Great editing job!
Seymour Hersh is a liar who would claim that his own mother died in infancy if it would somehow hurt Bush.
Hersh subtly tortures all these statements, twisting and turning them to mean what he what's us to suspect, confusing the issue of what really went on, so that he, the Great Seymour, could interperate it for us, and tell us what it all means. The result? The Arab "street" laps this conspiracy theory garbage right up! Let's blame it on everyone EXCEPT Hezbollah, and Iran. In fact, let's not look at THAT pair of treacherous belligerents, at all.
turning them to mean what he what's
to wants.
man, i gotta learn how to proofread faster...
TRANSLATION: I throw crap out there everyday. I said last year that we were going to invade Iran in March, but ya know what? I'm totally unaccountable. Even a broken clock's right twice a day. Oh, and if I get a chance I'll try to perpetuate the image of Jews running the media and an evil Jewish cabal running the world. I'm basically senile.
Seymour Hersh...another self-hating Jew who LIES about Israel....AND America.
Seriously.
Seymour Hersh is as reliable as Baghdad Bob.
If Israel had planned it with us, they would still be in the UN trying to convince 170 tin pot dictators of the need to do something.
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