>> "Believe me, Israel does not view Al Qaeda as a threat!"
> Why do you think so?
I can't find the link for this, but after September 11 it was
noted that Israel did not include al Qaeda on its list of
terrorist organizations. You might think that this oversight
would have been corrected in 2002, but it was not. Then
finally in 2003 they remembered to include them.
Anyway, Israel actually much prefers radical Islamic militant
organizations to secular ones, like the PLO. They correctly
believe that the former are very destructive to Arab society,
and damaging and to Arab international standing. Therefore
Israel actually provides funding and logistical support to
the major Arab terrorist organizations, eg Hamas.
********* QUOTE ON *********
Israel "aided Hamas directly -- the Israelis wanted to use it
as a counterbalance to the PLO", said Tony Cordesman, Middle
East analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies. Israel's
support for Hamas 'was a direct attempt to divide and dilute
support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing
religious alternative', said a former senior CIA official...
The thinking on the part of some of the right-wing Israeli
establishment was that Hamas and the other groups, if they
gained control, would refuse to have anything to do with the
peace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place,"
said a U.S. government official… Former State Department
counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson told UPI: "The
Israelis are their own worst enemies when it comes to fighting
terrorism. They are like a guy who sets fire to his hair and
then tries to put it out by hitting it with a hammer. They do
more to incite and sustain terrorism than curb it."
{UPI, Feb 24, 2001}
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/06/132088.php********* QUOTE OFF *********
The Israelis do not regard the militant Islamist groups like
al Qaeda as threats, but as assets.
>> Also their primary aim at this point is not to gain
>> influence in Iraq, but to destroy it as a unified secular
>> state that could emerge as a major competitor to Israel
>> in the region.
> Destroying it as a secular state will strengthen (a) the
> Kurds (good for Israel, coz they ain't Arabs), (b) Sunni
> extermism and AQ (bad for Israel) and (c) Iran, with its
> client statelet in the south of where Iraq is now (also bad
> for Israel).
You could argue that Arab extremism and fanaticism are bad
for Israel, but Israeli strategists are still following the
line laid out by Oded Yinon in 1982 - divide and conquer;
stir up all the fanaticism and sectarian hatred possible in
the Arab world. In this way they intend to undermine the
Arab States and ultimately destroy them. Look at what Yinon
said in detail - look at the Clean Break paper - look at what
the Israelis were doing in 2001 (as described in the UPI article
above). You say that Yinon's article is old, having been
written in 1982. You have to understand that Israeli
strategists are not given to fads; they think in terms of the
survival of their race. To an extent this is admirable, except
that sometimes they fail to consider that their own well-being
is somehow linked to the rest of the world as well.
> Previously, Iraq was emasculated by the sanctions
> and couldn't compete with Israel.
This is true, but the sanctions were not going to last forever.
Sooner or later Saddam would be gone, and the next generation
would take as its first priority getting the sanctions lifted.
Iraq would have survived as a unified secular state with vibrant
intellectual and scientific communities.
> If the occupation was a success, it would become a competitor.
I believe that Israel and their allies are doing everything
possible to make sure that the occupation is NOT a success
despite the rosy lip-service to peace and democracy. Here's
another tidbit from UPI:
******** QUOTE ON *********
U.S. intelligence officers are reporting that some of the insurgents
in Iraq are using recent-model Beretta 92 pistols, but the pistols
seem to have had their serial numbers erased. The numbers do not
appear to have been physically removed; the pistols seem to have
come off a production line without any serial numbers. Analysts
suggest the lack of serial numbers indicates that the weapons were
intended for intelligence operations or terrorist cells with
substantial government backing. Analysts speculate that these guns
are probably from either Mossad or the CIA. Analysts speculate that
agent provocateurs may be using the untraceable weapons even as U.S.
authorities use insurgent attacks against civilians as evidence of
the illegitimacy of the resistance.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050603-021838-6491r.htm******** QUOTE OFF *********
> At that time {1982} Israel was going forward, now they're going
> backwards. Times have changed.
I'm not sure why you say that Israel is going backwards. Since
September 11 they have been able to do pretty much as they want
with targeted killings, assassinations in foreign countries,
really brutal crackdowns on the Palestinians etc. The destruction
of a few settlements in Gaza is strictly window dressing. They
have built more new settlements in Gaza then they have dismantled.
Tim Howells