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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Indyk: US expected Israel to strike Iran last spring |
| 2012-08-23 |
| Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said that the United States "was convinced that Israel would attack" Iran's nuclear program during the spring months earlier this year, speaking in an interview with Army Radio on Thursday. After no Israeli strike took place, Indyk said that the US officials felt as though they had been duped by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's ruse. The former ambassador added that there is a sense within the US government that Washington is once again being misled by Israeli declarations and leaks. Indyk's comments come amid public discussions of the gaps between Washington and Jerusalem's perspective on the Iranian nuclear program. Earlier this week, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey highlighted the differences between the two allies: "You can take two countries, give them the same intelligence and reach two different conclusions. I think that's what’s happening here," he said on Sunday. Explaining why the Israelis saw Iran as a more pressing issue Dempsey added, "at the same time, we admit that our clocks ticking at different paces. We have to understand the Israelis; they live with a constant suspicion with which we do not have to deal.” A week earlier, former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit told Channel Two that he did not trust American assurances that Washington would stop Iran from going nuclear. Shavit said that Israel could only trust itself when it came to its own fate. On the same day as the Shavit interview, the Yediot Aharonot daily carried a front-cover story saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were seeking to launch a strike against Iran this coming fall. The report claimed that the prime minister and the defense minister were encountering stiff resistance to the idea of ordering the strike now from military and intelligence chiefs. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 All of this rhetoric about Iranian + North Korean Nucprogs is per INDIGENOUS DEV + PRODUCTION, and all but ignores international transfers, overt or covert. Reminds of the "NO WMDS IN IRAQ" rant back in the day, when what the Lefties really meant was "NO NUKES IN IRAQ". They were wrong on all counts. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-08-23 22:59 |
| #3 This ain't your father's Israel. |
| Posted by: Glinesh Craling7938 2012-08-23 14:53 |
| #2 "that the United States "was convinced that Israel would attack" Iran's nuclear program during the spring months earlier this year ..." I was convinced that Israel would hit them in the second-to-last year of the Bush presidency. AND THEY SHOULD HAVE. This constant dilly-dallying is a disaster. Does anyone think that the Israeli leadership that once existed under Moshe Dayan - would have waited this long to strike??? The man is surely turning over in his grave. |
| Posted by: Raider 2012-08-23 14:20 |
| #1 more likely that was a test to see how much was leaked to the Iranians by Obama's and Hildabeat's staff. See what defenses got wound up... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-08-23 08:16 |