Israel is concerned about the degree of U.S. military support it will receive once Obama becomes America's Commander-In-Chief. This is critical with regard to an Israeli strike on Iran since IDF warplanes will likely have to fly through Iraqi airspace and thus some degree of U.S. cooperation is needed. Thus, there is currently pressure on Israel to strike Iran before the end of President Bush's term. Notably, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, warned back in June that Israel would strike Iran in the interem between the presidential election and the inauguration if Barack Obama is elected President.
On Monday Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Olmert held a final summit with President Bush (only announced last Thursday) that some suspect was held to finalize plans for an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Per The Sunday Times:
The White House, announcing the meeting with Mr Olmert, gave little indication that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions would be at the top of the agenda. Mr Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, said that they would discuss "the continuing efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and a wide range of international issues".
The timing of the talks, between two lame duck leaders with only weeks to go before they leave office, is intriguing. Israel has stated repeatedly that it would be unacceptable for an Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons. Altough Tehran insists that its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes, President Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
During his visit to Washington, which begins on Sunday, Mr Olmert is expected to meet the Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary.
Intelligence sources have told The Times that the prospect of Israel taking preemptive military action to knock out Iran’s nuclear facilities appears to have become significantly more likely in recent weeks. Such an operation would require at least tacit US cooperation because it would almost certainly involve Israeli warplanes flying through US-controlled airspace in Iraq.
Concerns that a military strike on Iran was the main reason for the meeting seem to have been allayed by reports that Washington has warned Israel about making such a move before President Bush leaves office:
US President George W. Bush has bluntly warned Israel against striking Iran's nuclear facilities or launching a broad military response to Hamas rocket fire from the Gaza Strip during his final weeks in office, according to Time magazine.
The warning was first issued last week by senior American officials to their counterparts in Israel, who told Time, "We have been warned off."
Here's the problem.
1. Why would these lame duck leaders hold a summit regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace talks when they can do little to effect the Middle East peace process during their remaining weeks in office?
2. Why would Iran's nuclear ambitions be a sidelined topic of discussion during such a summit according to the White House Press Secretary when this is clearly a critical current issue?
3. Why would IDF sources make public an American warning to not attack Iran during the remainder of Bush's presidency?
What's possible is that the White House is being strategically deceptive about the topic of the summit meeting between Bush and Olmert, and the U.S. warning to Israel not to attack during the remainder of Bush's presidency was publicized to mislead as well. This deception would obviously be to keep Iran off-guard. If, indeed, there's been deceptiveness, then this suggests a final go ahead meeting for an Israeli attack on Iran was precisely why Prime Minister Olmert visited Washington at the beginning of this week.
The case that an Israeli strike on Iran might be in the works is buttressed by the fact that, right after Prime Minister Olmert returned to Israel, he went with his defense minister to Amman for a "secret summit" with Jordan's King Abdullah. Purportedly King Abdullah summoned Olmert and Barak to his palace to implore them not to launch a military operation in Gaza. However, what is also plausible is that Israel needed to get King Abdullah's permission to overfly Jordanian territory since this would simplify any IAF air strike on Iran. Notably, if Israel did fly over Jordan and then Iraq to reach Iran, according to my Google Earth calculations, that would minimize the distance to targets to 1000 miles....the maximum range of Israeli warplanes without added fuel tanks.
Meanwhile, the Israeli air force has fully geared up for a strike on Iran. In fact, the IDF on Wednesday organized a press tour to showcase IAF's capabilities against any threats:
When asked if the press tour is connected to any immediate action of the IDF, Gabriel Castelan, spokesman for the IDF answered in the negative.
What's more, as reported by the Iran's Press TV news service:
This comes as some 120 US military personnel in the Nevatim air base near the Negev desert are adding the finishing touches to an advanced X-band radar system, with a range of 1,250 miles that will gravely enhance Israel's tactical capacity in the air.
The system is also believed to be capable of countering Iran's advanced Shahab-3 and the newly-tested Sejjil ballistic missiles. Earlier reports suggested that the system could also facilitate an Israeli airstrike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
I deeply hope that I'm way off the mark on this one, but, if not, the timing of an Israeli strike on Iran would, as noted above, likely be around the time of a new moon such as will occur tomorrow. It's possible Israel could wait for the December 27th new moon, but this will reduce the time that the supportive Bush Administration will still be in power to back Israel in any effort to destroy Iran's nuclear program.
What's important to keep in mind is that, as I have long warned, Iran's nuclear program and ongoing threats are likely geared to elicit an Israeli attack in order to setoff an all-out war in the Middle East. This, in turn, will act as a trigger for a nuclear third world war between Russia and America, as I believe Moscow has long been planning.
The bottom line is that, should an Israeli strike on Iran occur, and missiles with chemical warheads are fired on the Jewish state in response, then know that the Apocalypse is here as I foresaw some 18 year ago.
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