Sunday, March 15, 2009
Did Iran Spread Iraqi WMD Disinformation?
Foreign Confidential....
Israel's enemies and critics have unjustly accused it of manipulating the United States into needlessly invading Iraq, a contained, secular foe with no weapons of mass destruction and no meaningful Al Qaeda connections.
But a number of intelligence analysts believeIran deliberately fueled suspicions regarding Iraqi WMD and Islamist ties in order to trick the U.S. into a draining, costly conflict. Iran was allegedly inspired by the way Washington tricked Moscow into invading Afghanistan in order to bleed it dry.
Iran also sought to divert attention from its nuclear and missile development programs, and remove a Middle Eastern enemy that stood in the way of Iranian regional dominance. The U.S. invasion and conquest of Iraq accomplished that, turning the Sunni-ruled nation into a Shiite dominated, emerging Iranian satellite.
Iranian disinformation, according to these analysts, was spread across the globe through agents of influence and unwitting dupes; and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who had constructed a myth around Iraqi WMD--to enhance his power and protect himself against Iran--was trapped into keeping the Big Lie alive. Tehran understood Saddam's vulnerability and effectively exploited it to the maximum possible extent.
This much is certain: just as the Vietnam war set back the legitimate anti-Communist cause and the case for truly necessary military intervention, the deeply unpopular Iraqi war has undermined the anti-Islamist struggle (the so-called War on Terror) and the need to stop Iran from acquiring atomic arms and the means of delivering them.
Israeli and other analysts believe Iran is already capable of making a nuclear weapon. Given another 12-18 months, these experts say, the mullahocracy could be mass-producing nuclear weapons, including warheads for long-range missiles.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Posts
