The New Yorker has just published a revealing article by vetern investigative journalist Seymour Hersh highlighting the extent to which the US was aware of Israel’s war plans, and how the conflict was seen as a test run for a larger war with Iran. Given Israel’s failure to win the conlict, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Pentagon policy wonks working overtime to dream up reasons why their pseudo-simulator didn’t turn out as hoped.
Some choice excerpts from the article:
ìThe White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iranís nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel.”
The Bush White House ìhas been agitating for some time to find a reason for a pre-emptive blow against Hezbollah… It was our intent to have Hezbollah diminished, and now we have someone else doing it [i.e. Israel]”
“Early this spring, according to a former senior intelligence official, high-level planners from the U.S. Air Forceóunder pressure from the White House to develop a war plan for a decisive strike against Iranís nuclear facilitiesóbegan consulting with their counterparts in the Israeli Air Force.”
ìThe Israelis told us it would be a cheap war with many benefits,î a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said. ìWhy oppose it? Weíll be able to hunt down and bomb missiles, tunnels, and bunkers from the air. It would be a demo for Iran.î
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage: ìIf the most dominant military force in the regionóthe Israel Defense Forcesócanít 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.”