Category Archives: Iran

Dagan Dishes On Iran

Intelligence, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Military

Meir Dagan is the “former chief of the Mossad, Israel’s equivalent of the CIA.” Other than the regime-change conceit he shared with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl, the man is brilliant. (He can take his regime change nonsense and go jump in the lake, as far as I’m concerned, or send his own Shin-Bet boys to do the job.)

Below, courtesy of CBS News, are a few choice passages from the interview. Note how the man lacks America’s cultural insularity; he understands the region and its logic. What Dagan doesn’t get is that Israelis who use their influence on America’s treacherous leaders so as to send us into war are not our friends! More below.

“For nearly a decade buying more time was his job,” reports Lesley Stahl. “The Iranians say Dagan dispatched assassins, faulty equipment and computer viruses to sabotage their nuclear program. All the while, he was poring over the most secret dossiers about the Iranian regime, gaining insights and a surprising appreciation.”

It’s ironic that the man arguing that Israel show restraint, built his reputation on brute force. Dagan is legendary in Israel with a 44-year resume as an effective killing machine. Before Mossad, he ran undercover hit squads, executing PLO operatives in Gaza, then Shiite militias in southern Lebanon. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to say Dagan’s expertise was, quote, “separating an Arab from his head.”

Dagan: I never ever killed nobody or we were engaged in killing somebody who was unarmed.

[Funny line: Dagan: What do they want? That I really would take seriously what the chief of police of Dubai is saying?]

Lesley Stahl: You have said publicly that bombing Iran now is the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard. That’s a direct quote.

Dagan: An attack on Iran before you are exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it.

Dagan: The regime in Iran is a very rational regime.

Stahl: Do you think Ahmadinejad is rational?

Dagan: The answer is yes. Not exactly our rationale, but I think that he is rational.

Stahl: Do you think they’re rational enough that they are capable of backing down from this?

Dagan: No doubt that the Iranian regime is maybe not exactly rational based on what I call Western-thinking, but no doubt they are considering all the implications of their actions.

Stahl: Other people think they’re not going to really stop until they have this capability.

Dagan: They will have to pay dearly and all the consequences for it. And I think the Iranians, in this point in time, are going very careful in the project. They are not running in it.

…

Dagan: I heard very carefully what President Obama said. And he said openly that the military option is on the table, and he is not going to let Iran become a nuclear state.

Stahl: So let me try to sum up what I think you’re now saying. And you’re saying, “Why should we do it? If we wait and they get the bomb, the Americans will do it.”

Dagan: The issue of Iran armed with a nuclear capability is not an Israeli problem; it’s an international problem.

Stahl: So wait and let us do it.

Dagan: If I prefer that somebody will do it, I always prefer that Americans will do it.

[SNIP]

Dagan is a patriot; an Israeli patriot. Like the Iranians, he acts in the interests of his country. But America’s ruling elites are different: they are traitors to their own people. Our leadership is always ready to shed the blood of our brave men.

I blame American leaders first and foremost for forsaking their people for another.

For that, the Israelis cannot be blamed. They are, however, to blame for taking for granted that the American people are up for another war.

Long-time readers know me as a staunch supporter of Israel. However, if Israel is expecting the tired titan that is the US to do their battle for them—they will have lost this scribe’s support, for what it’s worth. It’ll be a sad day. I have been a friend to Israel because I believed in the country’s cause and dignity.

“The titan is tired. We Americans have our own tyrants to tackle. We no longer want to defend to the death borders not our own—be they in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, wherever. And we don’t need our friends looking to us to do so.” [From “The Titan Is Tired”]

On Iran, Israelis Disagree With America’s Neocon Crazies

America, Iran, Israel, Neoconservatism, War

“What I learned growing up in a war-torn region is that a brave nation fights because it must; a cowardly one fights because it can” (March 26, 2003).

Fully forty four percent of a militarized and manipulated American population “stated they would support bombing Iran’s nuclear installations. A total of 70% also supported increasing economic sanctions.” To Israel’s great credit, Israeli popular opinion differs from that of Americans when it comes to a strike against the Islamic Republican of Iran. Via Brookings:

…a new poll shows, even though they are not fearful of Washington’s retribution if they go against U.S. advice. [Israelis] appear less influenced by the rhetoric of U.S. politicians competing for their embrace, and contrary to conventional wisdom, the Obama administration’s reluctance to support a military strike against Iran has apparently not affected their preference for Obama as the next president. In fact, their views seem to partly reflect the White House’s assessment of the consequences of war and the problems created by military action.
Only 19 percent of Israelis polled expressed support for an attack without U.S. backing, according to a poll I conducted — fielded by Israel’s Dahaf Institute Feb. 22-26 — while 42 percent endorsed a strike only if there is at least U.S. support, and 32 percent opposed an attack regardless.

UPDATE II: Paving the Way for a Rand Paul Presidency

Iran, Republicans, Ron Paul, War

Gas bag Newt Gingrich reiterated today, following victory in Georgia, his promise of Monday “to eliminate the government of Iran if it blocks passage through a key oil route in the Middle East.” Obama has already subjected Iran to an economic siege through ruthless, counterproductive, boycotts and sanction—all tantamount to a declaration of war. Yet the smug Mr. Gingrich still “described the Obama foreign policy in the region as ‘children’s hour.”

For those who still have faith in the Republikeynesians, no amount of good the big-government Republican troika might do can offset the war wrecking ball each one of is sure to unleash.

If Ron Paul cannot win the nomination, let BHO return to the throne and lay waste to the country, thus paving the way for a Rand Paul presidency.

UPDATE I: “Ron Paul’s strength in both the Vermont and Virginia Republican primaries came largely from Independent voters and, to a lesser extent in Vermont, Democratic voters who chose to participate in their state’s Republican primary. Although Mitt Romney won both states handily, Paul won a significant portion of the vote.” (CBSNews)

DELEGATES:

Gingrich 74

Paul 24

Romney 299

Santorum 99

UPDATE II (March 7): “Dennis Kucinich Offed by Democrats,” writes Lew Rockwell:

Even though he always ended up supporting the Democratic warmonger presidential candidate, the party decided to get rid of this voice for peace and civil liberties through gerrymandering. He’s no Ron Paul–Dennis is a socialist, for example–but he was often an ally for Ron on war and the police state. Dennis, now that you are freed from politics, I hope you start an organization to promote peace and civil liberties. Let the crazed protectionist Marcy Kaptur have the congress.

The Chalabi Times Hoping Not to Repeat Iraq Disgrace

Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, UN, War, WMD

As I pointed out in 2005, Judith Chalabi Miller, the Gray Lady’s prized reporter, shilled for the Iraq war over the pages of the New York Times, like there was no tomorrow. The Bush White House, together with a wily Iraqi exile named Ahmad Chalabi, friend to the neoconservatives, fed the voracious birdbrain with misinformation and lies about WMD. The NYT and Miller, as much as FoxNews and its hot-for-war hotties, promoted the immoral, illegitimate, baseless war on Iraq.

Whereas the Times was prone to see faces in the clouds during the delirium of destruction in Iraq, it is now attempting to cleave to the facts about Iran.

“American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. …Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies. … Iranian officials maintain that their nuclear program is for civilian purposes. ” [NYT]

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, a nuclear scientist and Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks reasonably to his country’s need to produce radio isotopes for pharmaceuticals, a product of the nuclear industry. However, the US prefers to increase the burden and isolation of the Iranian people with sanctions. Pure evil and plain counterproductive.

Facts did nothing to sway the U.S. from attacking a prostrate, Third World nation, with no navy or air force, whose military prowess was a fifth of what was smashed in the Gulf War. Rationalizing these war crimes with lies post invasion became de rigueur in the major media.

Similarly, facts will not forestall an American assault on Iran. In the early days, Iraq had provided “documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam’s foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD.” I recall the derision and mockery with which the Bush administration and its hangers-on greeted what turned out to be the only truthful document in the sad saga of Iraq.