U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site

[Barack_America]

Source: The New York Times

By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: January 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.

The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.

This account of the expanded American covert program and the Bush administration’s efforts to dissuade Israel from an aerial attack on Iran emerged in interviews over the past 15 months with current and former American officials, outside experts, international nuclear inspectors and European and Israeli officials. None would speak on the record because of the great secrecy surrounding the intelligence developed on Iran...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

---

An interesting look at the Bush administration, Israel, American intelligence and who, possibly, is calling the shots in Washington.

It also begs the question of what, exactly, will be on this ship?

U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE50875320090109

From that article:

In September, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of 1,000 bunker-buster missiles to Israel. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world.

The Jerusalem Post, citing defense officials, reported last week that a first shipment of the missiles had arrived in early December and they were used in penetrating Hamas's underground rocket launcher sites.

[Barack_America]

1. Updated story to point out that it looks like Israel got the weapons after all.

Thanks Congress!

[balantz]

2. Looks like Israeli and U.S. govs. are preparing to further the M.E. conflict.

And now since Gaza there are armies of even more angry Arabs/Muslims who would be more than willing to fight the western axis of evil.

[Barack_America]

4. It seems as though the U.S. is giving Israel the capability to attack Iran...

Yet wants to keep some distance between themselves and any attack.

So far it looks like the WH has called Israel's bluff, but with a new (and less permissive) administration coming in, well, the next 10 days could be interesting. Israel may just decide to go it alone while they've got the chance. The fact that they pinpointed the Iranian state television station for their attack yesterday is suddenly more concerning.

I had heard of the fact surrounding Israel's requests and the eventual sale of the bombs before, but this article gives the first real behind-the-scenes look at the events.

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Idealism]

5. "The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world."

I'd say they are either right or horribly wrong

According to thehttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_humanitarian_situation_report_2009_01_08_english.pdf"> U.N.'s Humanitarian Affairs Office:

More than 1/3 of overall Palestinian deaths are children (34% of the almost 800 total deaths), and a similar percentage of the more than 3,000 wounded are also children (34.8%). Women killed stood Thursday at 56 (7.4%). Of those wounded, women account for 452 (14.6%).



As Amy Goodman noted on Democracy Now a few days ago, men aren't being considered civilians yet (not sure why) so the actual numbers of civilians killed is higher than what we are being told by both sides.

[Barack_America]

6. Assuming, of course, that they've decided to use their smart bombs in Gaza...

...rather than save them for *something* else.

[Idealism]

7. F-16s were reported to have dropped GBU-39's at several points in the air raids

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/28/gbu39-israel-uses-new-uss_n_153840.html
GBU-39: Israel Uses New US-Supplied Smart Bomb To Attack Hamas
December 28, 2008 09:49 PM

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/israeli-jets-dr.html
Israeli Jets Drop 'Small Smart Bomb' in Gaza Strikes
December 30, 2008 | 10:22:53 AM


Definitely overkill, but I guess the IAF wanted to be sure...

[Barack_America]

8. Thanks for those links. nt

[maseman]

9. U.S. reportedly refused Israeli plea to raid Iran

Source: MSNBC/AP

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran's main nuclear complex, opting instead to authorize a new U.S. covert action aimed at sabotaging Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, The New York Times reported.

Israel's request was for specialized bunker-busting bombs that it wanted for an attack that tentatively involved flying over Iraq to reach Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country's only known uranium enrichment plan is located, the Times reported Saturday in its online edition. The White House deflected requests for the bombs and flyover but said it would improve intelligence-sharing with Israel on covert U.S. efforts to sabotage Iran's nuclear program.

(snip)

According to the Times, Bush decided against an overt attack based on input from top administration officials such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who believed that doing so would likely prove ineffective and could ignite a broader Middle East war.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28595386

---

Good God did Shrubby actually make one good decision?

[Pharaoh]

10. Shrubby does not make any decisions

He is a complete moron.

They just let him pretend that he is the decider :shrug:

[CLANG]

11. But, but, but... ahm the desah-der

[kpete]

12. Report: Israel sought help for Iran strike

Source: Market Watch

Report: Israel sought help for Iran strike

Last update: 6:59 p.m. EST Jan. 10, 2009

WASHINGTON, Jan 10, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Israel dropped a plan to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities after U.S. President Bush denied permission to fly over Iraq, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The Bush administration also turned down a request for bunker-busting bombs, the newspaper said, citing months of interviews with U.S. officials -- some of them still in government -- intelligence experts and international nuclear inspectors.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's proposal may have been intended to inspire the Bush administration to make greater efforts to scuttle Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Times said. Officials say the administration has begun a major covert effort aimed at Iran that is being handed on to the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The administration also increased cooperation with Israel on intelligence.

Officials told the Times Bush, fearing an air attack on Iran would set off a wider war in the Mideast, never seriously proposed such a move. The administration did ask the Defense Department to develop contingency plans for an air strike.




Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/report-israel-sought-help-iran/story.aspx?guid={1A4FAA3A-6FDD-4000-9C4D-03778EE4A630}&dist=msr_1

[Idealism]

13. Thats not war-mongering, genocide-lovin' Bush I know

What have you done with President KatrinaBurton?

[Name removed]

14. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[subsuelo]

15. Are the US and Israel not the most belligerent, hostile nations on earth?

[osmium]

16. I'd characterize both as...

Failed States..

[kentuck]

19. We should not burn his house down...

We should only steal his car?

[SOS]

23. Seems like Gates made the decision

Thankfully, Rumsfeld was gone before the 2007 NIE.

[Marie26]

17. Thank Robert Gates for that.

If Rummy were still there, there'd be a war w/Iran right now.

[leveymg]

20. Gates is one of the adults who nixed this. Would've started WWIII . Elaborate good cop/bad cop

game going on.

But, it also tells us the true state of affairs between the U.S. and Israel, and just how dangerous the present Israeli leadership has become.

[Barack_America]

21. They are truly insane.

And it appears the only thing stopping Israel from starting WWIII is a refueling aircraft, assuming of course they feel those aircraft must return.

It is very frightening.

[leveymg]

22. They have the refueling aircraft. Been converting a fleet of old C-130s and 707s

They could even go around the Horn, if they really wanted to. Would have to capture some airstrips in Somalia as an emergency waypoint. Wrote about this four years ago. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1753546 But, what they can't do is start this thing if the Joint Chiefs are against it, and they are.

No dice. No war.

[Marie26]

25. It was such a relief

when Gates was appointed. He is "an adult" and, unlike Powell, actually seems to have the ability to rein in Cheney & the neocons. And it definitely does show how dangerous & even reckless Israel has become. I still do worry a little that Isreal will try to expand this Gaza offensive to Iran while they have the chance. But it seems like that golden opportunity has largely passed w/the decline of neocon influence in the Bush Admin. Whew! It looks like there won't be a WWIII after all.

[seafan]

18. Bush's covert actions against Iran are a landmine for Obama's efforts to achieve peace in the ME.

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site

By DAVID E. SANGER
January 11, 2009


From deeper into the article:

.....

The interviews also indicate that Mr. Bush was convinced by top administration officials, led by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, that any overt attack on Iran would probably prove ineffective, lead to the expulsion of international inspectors and drive Iran’s nuclear effort further out of view. Mr. Bush and his aides also discussed the possibility that an airstrike could ignite a broad Middle East war in which America’s 140,000 troops in Iraq would inevitably become involved.

Instead, Mr. Bush embraced more intensive covert operations actions aimed at Iran, the interviews show, having concluded that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies were failing to slow the uranium enrichment efforts. Those covert operations, and the question of whether Israel will settle for something less than a conventional attack on Iran, pose immediate and wrenching decisions for Mr. Obama.

The covert American program, started in early 2008, includes renewed American efforts to penetrate Iran’s nuclear supply chain abroad, along with new efforts, some of them experimental, to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies. It is aimed at delaying the day that Iran can produce the weapons-grade fuel and designs it needs to produce a workable nuclear weapon.

.....

Early in his presidency, Mr. Obama must decide whether the covert actions begun by Mr. Bush are worth the risks of disrupting what he has pledged will be a more active diplomatic effort to engage with Iran.

Either course could carry risks for Mr. Obama. An inherited intelligence or military mission that went wrong could backfire, as happened to President Kennedy with the Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba. But a decision to pull back on operations aimed at Iran could leave Mr. Obama vulnerable to charges that he is allowing Iran to speed ahead toward a nuclear capacity, one that could change the contours of power in the Middle East.

.....

Make no mistake about it; this covert action against Iran is a land mine buried by George W. Bush to derail Obama's efforts to attain peace in the Middle East. And we can bet that we will hear a coordinated outcry from the neocons and right-wing media, explicitly timed to exert the maximum pressure on President Obama to *continue Bush's agenda* against the Iranians, thereby obliterating any chance of diplomacy.

And this NYT piece bends over backward with a flattering headline for their Dear Leader.


Oh, for a team of US Marshals encircling the White House in the early morning of January 20, 2009, with handcuffs and leg irons.

[SOS]

24. Allow Israel to fly over Iraq to bomb Iran?

"Hell no".

The only two sensible words from this administration in eight years.