Covert War Heats Up in the Middle East
Will it be enough to neutralize nuclear threat, or will Israel
launch
preemptive strikes in 2012?
Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., December 8, 2011) -- A
major "hot war" in the Middle East may be coming in 2012. But evidence
continues to mount of an aggressive "covert war" already being fought
inside Iran and throughout the Mideast. The goal: to neutralize Tehran's
nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs before it's too late.
Mysterious explosions are occurring. Iranian scientists are
disappearing. Top secret U.S. stealth drones are being used -- now one
has been down and captured by the Iranians.
There is little doubt that the Israeli Mossad is involved in some of
these operations. The question is how extensively are the CIA and other
Western intelligence agencies are involved. In my new political
thriller, The Tehran Initiative, the main character -- David Shirazi --
is a CIA operative sent deep inside Iran to use "all means necessary" to
pinpoint, disrupt and sabotage Iran's nuclear threat before Israel
launches preemptive strikes.
We can only hope the CIA is being this aggressive. Yet at the same time
the White House and State Department continue a policy of appeasement
towards the wicked regime in Tehran. Now the Obama administration is
even trying to water down tougher new Iran sanctions passed by the
Senate last week, 100 to 0. Why? Such actions are foolish and reckless,
and are making the prospect of an Israeli first strike more likely, not
less. Keep praying. It may be a long, tough year ahead.
Here are the latest headlines suggesting a covert war is underway (all
linked on the blog):
likely, not less. Keep praying. It may be a long, tough year ahead.
Two other stories posted on the blog this week:
1.) Romney, Gingrich, Santorum stand out in Republican Jewish Coalition
event: Dominate discussion on Israel, Iran, epicenter issues. (analysis
of the speeches, plus links to the C-SPAN speech archives)
2.) STATE OF THE EPICENTER 2011: Year end report to The Joshua Fund
board on the geopolitical challenges facing Israel at the moment.
Three GOP presidential candidates on
Wednesday dominated the discussion of Israel, Iran and the economy
at the Republican Jewish Coalition event in Washington, D.C. What
follows is an update to the recent
column
I wrote rating the GOP candidates on the Iran issue. I saw nothing
to change my previous ratings, but there were new nuances.
- Romney, Gingrich and Santorum gave
serious, substantive addresses and answers during the Q&A sessions.
- The first two were important to
watch because, obviously, they are leading in the polls — and many
believe are the most plausible contenders for the Republican
nomination. To their credit, both also delivered strong performances
— Gingrich’s was better, but Romney wasn’t bad; either will be much
better on Israel than President Obama, something more and more
American Jews are beginning to realize.
- Gingrich said he’d appoint John
Bolton to be Secretary of State, and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem — love that; other elements of the speech were
excellent, too — definitely worth watching.
- Romney promised to make his first
state visit to Israel, noting that Obama has visited a slew of
Mideast countries and offered to meet with Ahmadinejad, but hasn’t
found time to visit our most important and trustworthy ally in the
region, Israel — amen; he said other good things, too, but the
question remains whether he can be trusted on these issues
when the Mideast heats up since he hasn’t exactly demonstrated
himself as a man of lasting convictions.
- Santorum’s speech stood out to me —
it’s worth watching, along with the other two. The man clearly has
deep convictions on Israel and Iran. He knows these issues. He’s
thought long and hard about them. He spoke to the RJC first, and
spoke of a “gathering storm” building in the Middle East, borrowing
Winston Churchill’s line regarding the rise of the Nazi threat in
the 1930s. Santorum also impressed me as he explained how he led on
major legislation to impose economic sanctions on Iran in 2006,
before it was “popular.” He was opposed in the Senate by Joe Biden,
and even opposed by President Bush. Yet as he explained, he
eventually got his legislation passed unanimously as the situation
in Iran worsened and Washington began to wake up to the dangers.
Santorum was ahead of his time on the Iran issue, and the only one
of the three to have put a specific plan on the table to neutralize
Iran’s nuclear threat. Some say Santorum doesn’t have a shot. He’s
only at 7%
among likely voters in Iowa in the new ABC/Washington Post poll
(though that’s up from 2% earlier this year). Still, there are 25
days to go before the Iowa caucuses — that’s a lifetime in politics,
and it’s certainly been a wild ride so far. Who knows what will
happen next? Regardless, Santorum’s is a welcome and important voice
in the GOP debate and his foreign policy experience is vital to the
party.
- Bachmann’s speech was okay, and she
clearly loves Israel, but she lacked the gravitas of the others —
and she made a very odd point of saying that a donor has told her
he’s ready to pay for the move of the U.S. Embassy and Ambassador’s
residence to Israel if she’s elected; that seemed a strange thing to
say when she makes such a point of criticizing cronyism in politics.
- Perry said he’d increase aid to
Israel — but didn’t he just say he was going to reduce all foreign
aid?
- Huntsman was irrelevant, bless his
heart.
- The RJC deserves credit for not
inviting Ron Paul who is an isolationist, has a deep disrespect for
Israel’s security needs and strategic importance to U.S. national
security, and he is, frankly, out to lunch on the Iran issue.
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Watch the best three speeches for
yourself from the C-SPAN archives, in the order they were delivered:
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