Friday, August 31, 2007

Knowing the neighborhood

Israel Warned U.S. on Iraq -Gareth Porter

Israeli officials warned the Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilizing and urged the U.S. instead to target Iran as the primary enemy, according to Lawrence Wilkerson, a [former] chief of staff for secretary of state Colin Powell.

"The Israelis were telling us Iraq is not the enemy - Iran is the enemy." Wilkerson describes the Israeli message in early 2002 as being, "If you are going to destabilize the balance of power, do it against the main enemy."

The warning against an invasion of Iraq was "pervasive," conveyed to the administration by a wide range of Israeli sources, including political figures, intelligence, and private citizens.

Wilkerson noted that the main point of their communications was not that the U.S. should attack Iran, but that "it should not be distracted by Iraq and Saddam Hussein" from a focus on the threat from Iran.
(Asia Times-Hong Kong)

1 comment:

LHwrites said...

It will be interesting to hear from supporters of our war with Iraq (I hear there are a few of them left) who also support Israel, about this one!