Tonight brings news in the Washington Post that US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta believes that Israel may attack Iran's nuclear weapons sites in April, May or June -- at a time before Iran has sufficient nuclear material to assemble a bomb. According to the Post, Panetta bases this view on what he was told by Israelis in recent discussions.
My immediate reaction to this story is why in the world is Panetta announcing a potential attack? Is it to give warning to the Iranians? Is it to prevent any attack by Israel? Is it to send the media into full snooping mode in order to watch for possible moves by Israel towards such an attack? Is it meant to give Iran the chance to move some critical materials out of the way of an attack? Simply put, I do not know if any of these are Panetta's intended purpose, but I do know that all of these are likely results of what he said.
On the other hand, maybe Panetta is hoping that the threat of attack will bring Iran to negotiate. Maybe this whole thing is psychological warfare designed to make the mullahs feel threatened. Somehow, I doubt that. After all, the way to really threaten the mullahs is to have them believe that an attack from the USA was likely. America could take out the Iranian nuclear program in about two weeks of air attacks, and it could do so with minimal casualties. For Israel, the task is much more daunting and much less likely to lead to success. So if Panetta was just bluffing, it would make more sense to leak word of a US attack, not talk in public about one from Israel.
Once thing is certain; if Panetta really got advance warning from Israel of a potential attack and then he went public with the news, the Israelis are done talking. After all, with friends like the Obama Administration, the Israelis don't really need enemies.
4 comments:
Well if you read the news, the Israelis themselves publically announced their "potential intentions". You sound like my brother in law who blames Obama for everything including Aids.
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=256298
Obviously, the Israelis and every other commentator in the world has speculated that Israel may well attack Iran's nuclear program. The Israelis, however, do not give out the timing of the potential attack. The commentators do not have inside information. Only Panetta is likely to know the truth and, at the same time, give out the date.
Do you really think the Secretary of DOD is handing out the dates? Ever think this is masking the truth? I am sure if Rummy had said this, you would have no problem with it.
Jim -- you are wrong; I would be incensed no matter which Defense Secretary said this! But the point is that Rummy did not say this; it was Panetta who did this for Obama.
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